06082018 - ALLEGED PLOT TO REMOVE SARAKI AS SENATE PRESIDENT:APC, R-APC tango over plan to induce each senator with N50m

C 

M 

Y 

K 

New insurance industry policy 

sidelines 40 companies 

INSIDE 

No right-thinking person’ll 

applaud present situation 

in Nigeria — OBASANJO 9 

VOL. 26: NO. 63608 MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2018 

ALLEGED PLOT TO REMOVE SARAKI AS SENATE PRESIDENT: 

APC, R-APC tango over 

plan to induce each 

senator with N50m 

•APC restates bid to oust Saraki, says it doesn’t need money to remove him 

•Plans on to force NASS open, replace Saraki with Adamu, says R-APC 

•Alleges that PDP senators on EFCC list to be given clean bill if they defect 

•Hold FG, APC responsible for threat to democracy — PDP 

•NNPC denies financing Saraki's impeachment 

RUMOURED DEFECTION: AKPABIO MEETS BUHARI IN LONDON 

8 

By Henry Umoru, 

Omeiza Ajayi & 

Dirisu Yakubu 

ABUJA— THE All 

Progressives 

Congress, APC, and its 

splinter group, Reformed 

All Progressives 

Congress, R-APC, were 

yesterday locked in a 

war of words over 

alleged plans by the 

former to induce each 

senator with N50 million 

to forcibly reconvene, 

with a view to unseating 

the Senate President, Dr. 

Bukola Saraki. 

APC restated its desire to 

remove the Senate 

President from office, but 

noted that rather than 

expending millions of 

Naira of public funds on the 

effort, it would deploy its 

numerical strength in the 

upper chamber to get 

Saraki out of the way. 

The R-APC alleged that 

the government has 

decided to use force to 

reconvene the National 

Continues on Page 5 

9 Corps 

members 

drown in 

Taraba 6 

Mr & Mrs 

Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio with President Muhammadu Buhari, Saturday, in London. SEE STORY ON PAGE 8. 

CBN moves to 

disburse lower 

currency 11 

denominations 

COLUMNISTS 

OWEI 

Umahi takes 

war to 

Oshiomhole, 

asks him to 

stay away 

from Ebonyi 

FALANA 

15 

Presidency 

alleges threat 

to 2019 polls, 

appeals to 

NASS to 

reconvene 

SOBOWALE 

APC NWC upturns 

Shehu Sani's 

suspension, as 

Kaduna APC 

kicks 

9 14 

HENRY BOYO 

33 50 

31 32

2 —Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2018

Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2018---3


Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2018—5 

POCKET CARTOON 

ON APAPA GRIDLOCK—Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode (middle); Commissioner 

for Works & Infrastructure, Adebowale Akinsanya (3rd right); Chairman, Association of Maritime 

Truck Owners (AMATO), Chief Remi Ogungbemi (2nd right); Managing Director, ABAT Truck Terminal, 

Felix Chikwu (right); Commissioner for Transportation, Ladi Lawanson (3rd left) and Permanent 

Secretary, Ministry of Transportation, Dr. Taiwo Salaam (left) during the flag off of the expansion of 

ABAT Truck Terminal at Orile-Iganmu, to decongest Apapa gridlock in Lagos, yesterday. 

SARAKI: APC, R-APC tango over plan 

to induce each senator with N50m 

Continues from Page 1 

Assembly because using 

legal means to remove the 

Senate President will be a 

difficult process. 

It added that once the 

Senate leadership is 

overthrown, the Senate 

would immediately 

consider the virement 

budget of the Independent 

National Electoral 

Commission, INEC, and 

also approve pending 

nominations in the Senate. 

The APC government is 

also alleged to be reaching 

out to some Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP, 

senators, especially those 

who have Economic and 

Financial Crimes 

Commission, EFCC, 

queries in order to give 

them a clean bill once they 

defect to the APC. 

APC plotting to 

replace Saraki with 

Adamu, says R- 

APC 

R-APC in a statement 

signed by the National 

Publicity Secretary, Prince 

Kassim Afegbua, in Abuja 

yesterday, said if 

government succeeds in 

removing Saraki, he would 

be replaced by the 

Chairman, Senate 

Committee on Agriculture 

and Rural Development, 

Senator Abdullahi Adamu 

(APC, Nasarawa West). 

The statement read: “The 

rumours making the 

rounds that Senator Bukola 

Saraki, the Senate 

President, would be 

impeached by crook or 

hook has remained 

unabated in the last few 

days. 

“We can bring you news 

that the disputed 

leadership of the APC, 

working in cahoots with the 

Attorney-General and 

Minister of Justice, coupled 

with the Secretary to the 

Government of the 

Federation, have perfected 

their plans to apply gestapo 

methods to forcibly unseat 

the Senate President. 

“A high-powered 

meeting of these persons 

was held at the Maitama 

residence of the disputed 

chairman of the APC on 

Thursday, August 2, 2018 

where they brainstormed 

on the possible ways to 

carry out their illegality. 

“The meeting which 

lasted for three hours, 

insider source confirmed to 

us at the R-APC, explored 

both legal and illegal 

approaches to execute the 

assignment of ensuring 

that Dr. Bukola Saraki 

ceases to be the Senate 

President. 

“Having met a brickwall 

going by the legal 

processes involved before 

the Senate can be reopened, 

the disputed APC 

leadership is toying with 

the barbaric idea of forcibly 

opening the National 

Assembly, reconvening the 

Senate and using the 

senators of the APC to 

preside over the planned 

impeachment. “Senator 

Abdullahi Adamu has been 

penciled down to succeed 

Senator Bukola Saraki, 

amid a host of other 

changes in the Senate’s 

Continues on Page 51 

Are defections by politicians about Nigerians?(1) 

By Bose Adelaja, Ebun 

Sessou, Abasifiok Johnson & 

Opara Victoria 

They are fighting for 

their pockets and 

only God will deliver us 

from their hands. 

It is obvious that they 

want to satisfy 

themselves. It is not in 

the interest of Nigerians. 

From what we are 

seeing, it is obvious that 

the politicians are in 

business. I even learned 

that a former governor, 

who is a senator has 

concluded plans to 

defect. They are 

shameless people. 

*Mr Olaokan 

Olojede Photographer 

They are not fighting 

for us, no plan for 

Nigerians and that is 

why they fight their way 

to the top. Buhari was 

determined to help the 

masses but the Senate 

disturbed his good 

intention. Many of them 

want to get Presidential 

ticket and that is why 

they are cross-carpeting 

but we won’t vote for 

such people. Never! We 

will vote for the people 

who will take care of the 

masses. 

Alhaji Ibrahim 

Abidoye 

Businessman 

The defections are for 

selfish reasons but if 

you ask them, they' will say 

it is for the benefit of the 

masses.They are just 

playing games. They are 

migrating like rats running 

from one room to another 

and keep saying they are 

working for us. If you 

needed to trust anyone, trust 

yourself first. They defect 

just for the sake of 

power. 

They should think well 

and work for the benefit of 

the masses. 

Mr. Adeyinka Hezekiah 

Self-employed 

It is not a new 

development. 

Nigerian politicians 

always engage in this. 

The defections have 

absolutely nothing to do 

with the interest of 

Nigerians. It is all about 

personal interest. 

If they could not get it 

right with the government 

which they were part of for 

almost four years, what do 

they have to offer to the 

new party they just 

joined? We are just 

seeing one of the 

features of Nigerian 

politics. 

Mr. Omozusi Praise 

Student 

Nigeria’s democracy is 

a merry go round 

show. I thought All 

Progressives Congress 

,APC, should know this. Just 

three years ago, they 

celebrated and benefited 

from the defections, now they 

are crying foul because this 

same political gladiators have 

decided to return to their 

base. APC, stop being 

mischevious and malicious 

and concentrate on how to 

win the confidence of your 

supporters. This is one bad 

thing about humans. 

Because their party is losing 

they are crying. 

Mr. Ugbenu Monday 

Business Consultant 

Nigeria’s democracy 

is evolving, no short 

cut. We have been there 

twice before in 1964/65 and 

1983. Tolerance, political 

culture and patriotic 

nationalism are never 

transferred, they are 

developed from within. You 

can't reform a dictator. We 

must be able to crawl, walk, 

run before flying. Education 

and health must be a priority 

and right of all. The greed 

we experience is part of 

primitive thinking. How 

does a man convert a public 

school into a private 

business concern? This is 

just a phase. 

Mr. Effiong Nyong 

Broadcaster

C 

M 

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6—Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUTS 6, 2018 

:Vanguard News :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867058, 08035483885 

Man allegedly 

stabs guest to 

death at 

mother-in-law’s 

burial 

ceremony 

By Evelyn Usman 

TRAGEDY 

struck 

yesterday, at a burial 

ceremony in Oguru village, 

Mowe area of Ogun State, 

after a 32-year-old Julius 

Oliseh, allegedly stabbed a 

guest to death. 

The incident which occurred 

at about 2am, disrupted the 

event as everyone took to his 

heels. 

However, the suspect, a 

barber, during interrogation, 

claimed the deceased, Isikilu 

Shittu ( 23), was harassing 

guests at the event , alleging 

that he fought with anyone 

who tried to caution him. 

According to the Delta Stateborn 

suspect, “the party was 

held in honour of my late 

mother-in-law. Everything 

was going on smoothly when 

the deceased started 

misbehaving because he was 

drunk. He harassed guests 

who were on their own. In my 

attempt to caution him, he 

started fighting with me”. 

The deceased was stabbed 

on the neck, left shoulder and 

face. Eyewitnesses said he 

could have survived the attack 

had he been rushed to the 

hospital early. 

Troops kill 2 

terrorists, 

prevent 

invasion of 

Borno village 

By Joseph Erunke 

ABUJA—A plan by Boko 

Haram terrorists to attack 

Malari village in Borno State 

was foiled, weekend, by troops 

of 222 Battalion, Operation 

Lafia Dole. 

The Nigerian Army in a 

statement yesterday by its 

spokesman, Brigadier General 

Texas Chukwu, said two of the 

terrorists were gunned down 

during the ambush, while 

others fled into the bush. 

The statement read thus:” 

Troops of 222 Battalion 

deployed in Operation Lafiya 

Dole, on August 2, while on 

ambush operation around 

Malari village, Borno State, 

neutralised two Boko Haram 

terrorists while others fled 

into the bush. 

“10 bicycles were 

recovered from the terrorists 

during the encounter. The 

public is hereby advised to 

report any suspicious 

movements or activities to 

security agents for necessary 

action.” 

9 NYSC members drown in Taraba 

By Femi Bolaji 

JALINGO—NINE National 

Youth Service Corps, NYSC, 

members have drowned in River 

Mayo-Selbe, Gashaka Local 

Government Area of Taraba State. 

The incident, it was gathered, 

happened on Saturday, barely 24 

hours after the Director General 

of NYSC, Brigadier-General 

Suleiman Kazaure, visited 2018 

Batch B NYSC members 

undergoing three weeks 

orientation course at the 

permanent orientation camp in 

Jalingo. 

It was gathered that the corps 

members were swimming in the 

river during a picnic, when it 

overflowed its banks due to 

persistent rainfall that submerged 

nearby communities. 

The corpses of seven of them 

were said to have been 

recovered by the Police at press 

OPERATIVES of Lagos State 

Task Force have arrested at 

least 210 miscreants and 

impounded 125 motorcycles, 

popularly called okada, around 

Iludun Town, New Oko-Oba area 

of Agege, Lagos State. 

Also, 98 illegal shanties built on 

drainage and road set-backs 

were demolished by the team 

following complaints by different 

communities around the area. 

Chairman of the agency, Chief 

Superintendent Olayinka 

Egbeyemi, who led the 

enforcement team, disclosed 

that the 210 arrested miscreants 

were those recently dislodged 

by the agency along railway 

behind Abattoir Lairage, 

Agege. 

According to him, areas 

where those dislodged 

miscreants and street urchins 

carried out their activities and 

erected illegal shanties 

included Pipeline Way, Agric 

Road, Olaofe Road and 

Mofoladayo Drive. 

Egbeyemi disclosed further 

that the miscreants and street 

urchins had been attacking 

communities day and night, 

robbing them of their valuables 

such as phones, wallets and 

jewelleries. 

He said: “It was an eyesore 

as these dislodged miscreants 

and street urchins were freely 

smoking and selling Indian 

hemp around residential 

premises where you have 

under-age schoolgirls and 

boys.” 

The Chairman stressed that 

98 demolished illegal shanties 

and shops built with containers 

within the area and adjoining 

streets aside being on the 

landscape and harbouring 

criminals, constituted health 

hazards to humans, environment 

•Victims from Delta, Edo, Imo, Enugu 

time, while efforts were on to 

recover the remaining two. 

Vanguard gathered that four 

of the bodies earlier recovered, 

comprising two males and two 

females, were confirmed to be 

indigenes of Delta, Edo, Imo and 

Enugu states, with their names 

withheld. 

However, details of the state of 

origin of the other bodies are yet 

to be made available. 

Taraba State Coordinator of 

NYSC, Florence Yaakugh, 

confirmed the incident to 

newsmen. 

Yaaugh, who resumed work in 

the state less than three months 

ago, described the incident as 

shocking and one of the darkest 

days of her career. 

According to her, “we have 

information indicating that about 

nine of our NYSC members 

drowned in Gashaka on 

Saturday. So far, seven bodies 

have been recovered and we 

are working with other 

relevant persons to recover the 

rest and to identify the 

persons. This is a very sad 

development and the entire 

NYSC family in Taraba State 

is already thrown into deep 

mourning.” 

She added that NYSC was 

trying to identify the corps 

members involved and would 

make their identities known 

soon. 

Meanwhile, the Lamido of 

Gashaka, HRH Alhaji 

Zubeiru Hamman Gabdo, 

when contacted, expressed 

deep shock, noting that it was 

a monumental loss to the 

country. 

He prayed God to grant families 

of the deceased fortitude to bear 

the irreparable loss and repose of 

their souls. 

Contacted, spokesperson of the 

state Police Command, ASP 

David Misal, also confirmed the 

incident, saying “information 

available at our disposal reveals 

that 22 NYSC members, serving 

in the state, were on a picnic in 

River Mayo-Selbe in Gashaka 

council on Saturday when the 

incident happened. 

“We were made to understand 

that while they were swimming, 

there was a sudden increase in 

the volume of water, which carried 

nine of them away. We have so 

far recovered seven corpses, while 

the search for the two remaining 

corpses is still in progress.” 

Lagos task force nabs 210 miscreants, 

impounds 125 okada, demolishes 98 shanties 

By Olasunkanmi Akoni 

& Bose Adelaja 

and safety in and around the 

area. 

The arrested miscreants and 

By Suzan Edeh 

BAUCHI—A truck driver, 

yesterday, killed a man and 

his daugther, leaving his wife 

injured at Bakin Kura Junction 

in Bauchi metropolis. 

The incident, which occurred 

at around5.30p.m., attracted 

many sympathisers as people 

were wailing and lamenting. 

An eyewitness, who pleaded 

anonymity, said the driver of the 

truck was speeding without 

street urchins were 

immediately charged to court 

on the directive of the Lagos 

considering a motorcycle 

directly in front of him. 

The eyewitness said: “The 

driver of the truck was 

speeding dangerously when 

he was approaching the 

junction. 

“Instead of him to slow 

down for the man that was 

carrying his wife and a child 

on a motorcycle to pass, he 

rammed into them and also 

hit another man riding a 

motorcycle, who was lucky 

State Commissioner of Police 

Commissioner of Police, 

Imohimi Edgal. 

Truck driver kills man, daughter, injures wife in Bauchi 

as he only sustained injuries. 

“The man died on the spot 

along with his female child, 

while his wife was seriously 

injured. The scene of the crash 

was horrible, because the man's 

skull was shattered.” 

Contacted, Sector Head of 

Operations, Federal Road 

Safety Corp, FRSC, Mr. Paul 

Gua, said the accident involved 

a truck with number plates 

810503 ADJ and two 

motorcycles.


:Vanguard News :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews 

Assemblies of God Church factions clash in Abuja 

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri 

ABUJA—THE 

crisis 

rocking Assemblies of God 

Church, AGC, worsened 

weekend, as members of a 

branch of the church in Abuja 

clashed over leadership tussle 

involving two senior pastors 

laying claim to the District 

Superintendent position. 

It took the intervention of 

Police officers summoned by 

neighbours to restore normalcy 

in the church’s premises 55, 

Accra Road, Wuse Zone 5, 

Abuja. 

The feuding church members, 

who were poking each other with 

fingers, were still engaged in a 

heated war of words when a Police 

patrol team arrived the scene. 

Factions 

Problem started after the District 

Superintendent of the church, 

Rev. Nicholas Anyanwu, who was 

allegedly suspended from office 

by a faction of the church, was 

prevented from holding a press 

conference inside the church 

premises. 

Anyanwu was said to have been 

suspended by a faction of the 

church that recognises Rev. Chidi 

Okoroafor as their General 

Superintendent. 

The embattled pastor, however, 

belongs to another faction that 

By Evelyn Usman 

Amember of staff of Lagos State 

General Hospital, Mr. 

Olumide Ayeni, was weekend in 

Lagos Island allegedly stabbed to 

death by his wife, Damilola Ayeni, 

during a fight over her inability to 

answer the deceased’s calls. 

Residents of Bamgbose Street, 

were reportedly jolted from sleep 

by the couple’s banters in the early 

hours of Saturday. 

Some concerned neighbours 

who later rushed to the scene to 

ascertain what was happening, 

reportedly met 36-year-old 

Olumide in the pool of his blood 

with a knife thrust by the side of 

his shoulder. 

However, the housewife who 

was subsequently arrested by 

policemen from Lion Building 

Division, claimed she committed 

the act in self defence, regretting 

that she never intended to kill 

her husband. 

She claimed trouble started at 

about 1a.m., Saturday, after her 

husband accused her of 

infidelity, because she missed 

his calls earlier. 

According to her: “When he 

came back home at about 1am, 

he asked where I went to and 

why I did not pick his calls, 

earlier. I tried to explain that the 

phone was in the bag and that I 

didn’t hear it ringing. He 

recognises one Rev. Paul Emeka 

as the authentic spiritual leader of 

the church. 

Meanwhile, while Anyanwu was 

getting set to address newsmen on 

the outcome of a court case he 

instituted and won against his 

suspension, members loyal to Rev. 

Okoroafor, led by another senior 

pastor, stormed the church 

premises and ordered everyone 

out. 

While journalists scampered for 

safety, the two factions poured 

invectives on each other. 

The invading group insisted that 

Rev. Anyanwu would not be 

allowed to brief the press within the 

church compound because he was 

not their District Superintendent. 

The court 

Sequel to the commotion, counsel 

to the Anyanwu-led faction, Mr. 

John Odiba, persuaded his client 

to move the press conference to a 

compound behind the church. 

Odiba displayed an endorsed 

copy of a judgment delivered by 

Justice Othman Musa of a High 

Court of the Federal Capital 

Territory, which he said settled the 

protracted crisis in the church in 

Abuja. 

The judgment, delivered on July 

5, 2018, a copy of which was sighted 

by Vanguard, emanated from a suit 

filed by Rev. Anyanwu. 

Respondents in the suit were Rev. 

Dr. Chidi Okoroafor, Assistant 

General Superintendent; Rev. 

Ngene, Assistant District 

Superintendent; Rev. Tony 

Ese, District Secretary; Rev. 

Godwin Agada; District 

Treasurer; Rev. Ugwu, District 

Presbyter; Rev. Asuata, 

Presbyter; Rev. Adoga, 

Presbyter, and Rev. Dr. 

Amaowoh, Chairman of 

Investigation Panel. 

Others included Rev. 

Anyimson, Secretary of 

Investigation Panel; Rev. Dr. 

Mbe, member, Investigation 

Panel; Rev. Dr. John Ikoni, 

General Secretary, and Bon 

James. 

The judgment 

In the judgment, Justice 

Musa quashed Anyanwu’s 

suspension on the premise that 

he was not granted fair hearing 

as guaranteed under Section 

36 of the 1999 Constitution, as 

amended. 

The court declared, among 

others, that the allegations of 

mismanagement of funds, 

stealing and/or conversion of 

church funds by the 

respondents against the 

applicant constitutes criminal 

offenced for which the 

applicant ought to be 

arraigned and tried by a court 

of competent jurisdiction. 

Fight over wife’s inability to pick 

calls leads to husband’s death 

•I stabbed him in self defence, says suspect 

accused me of having extra 

marital affairs and 

charged towards me 

with a knife. In 

defence, I picked 

the kitchen 

knife and 

stabbed him in 

self defence.” 

Father of the 

deceased, Mr 

Ayeni Sunday 

who lives on the 

same street with 

his late son, 

reported the 

matter to 

Policemen at 

Lion Building 

division, 

consequent 

Damilola Ayeni 

upon which the suspect was 

arrested. 

Confirming the arrest, Lagos 

State Police Public Relations 

Officer, Chike Oti, said: “On 

August 4, 2018, at about 1.15am, 

one Ayeni Sunday Omowale, of 

8 Bamgbose street, Lagos Island 

reported at Lion Building Police 

division , that his son, 

Olumide Ayeni of 78 

Bamgbose street Lagos 

Island was allegedly 

stabbed by his wife 

with a knife on the 

left side of the chest. 

“ Victim was 

rushed to the Lagos 

Island General 

hospital , where he 

later died . The 

suspect has been 

arrested while the 

body was deposited 

at the Lagos 

Island General 

Hospital 

morgue for 

autopsy . 

“This is 

one case of 

domestic violence taken too 

far. The Commissioner of 

Police, Lagos State Police 

Command, Mr. Imohimi 

Edgal, has reiterated his call on 

couples to always resolve 

marital issues amicably, without 

resorting to violent action that 

will lead to loss of life.” 

... with Emma'nKen (08163121378) 

Dear, just once and you can go on 

break for a month...sorry, a week 

Tramadol, codeine and 

some other things at work 

Jude Okoye was once a bus conductor, 

now his customers want their change 

Our verdict: Bring back our P-Square!

C 

M 

Y 

K 

8—VANGUARD, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2018 

:Vanguard :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058 

A-Ibom on edge as Akpabio's 

defection looms 

By Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru & 

Dirisu Yakubu 

LAST minute efforts to 

restrain the former 

governor of Akwa Ibom State, 

Senator Godswill Akpabio, 

from defecting to All 

Progressives Congress, APC, 

from Peoples Democratic Party, 

PDP were, yesterday, ongoing 

amidst mutual allegations 

between him and his 

successor, Governor Udom 

Emmanuel. 

Sources close to Senator 

Akpabio, now the Senate 

Minority Leader, raised 

allegations of insubordination, 

among others, against 

Governor Emmanuel for 

Akpabio’s determination to 

leave the party that had been 

personified by him in his state. 

Associates of the governor, 

however, dismissed the claim, 

affirming that Emmanuel has 

regularly genuflected before 

Akpabio, describing him at 

several fora as his political 

mentor in the affairs of 

governance and party 

administration. One associate 

of Emmanuel, however, 

surmised that if he defects it 

would mean that “the king has 

decided to dance naked.” 

After months of anxiety, 

news of Akpabio’s imminent 

defection from the PDP swept 

through the social media last 

weekend following a post on 

the face book page of Mr. Okoi 

Obono-Obla, Special 

Assistant to the President on 

Prosecution. 

Mr. Obono-Obla had in his 

facebook page wrote: “There 

shall be an APC Rally at Ikot 

Ekpene, Akwa Abasi Ibom 

State on Thursday, the 9th 

August 2018 to receive the 

former indefatigable governor 

of the state, His Excellency, 

Senator Godswill Akpabio, to 

All Progressives Congress! 

Acting President Osinbajo 

accompanied by Senator Ita 

Enang and leaders of the APC 

in Akwa Ibom will formally 

receive Senator Godswill 

Akpabio into the APC at Ikot 

Ekpene Stadium on 

Thursday, August 9, 2018.” 

Obono-Obla’s involvement 

in announcing the defection 

had sparked insinuations that 

Akpabio was being hounded 

to defect byEconomic and 

Financial Crimes 

Commission, EFCC. 

However, that claim was 

strongly rebuffed by Akpabio’s 

associates, who, yesterday, 

affirmed that his potential 

movement was being 

instigated by other factors. 

They wondered if it was the 

EFCC that hounded Ortom, 

Saraki and other defectors out 

of their respective parties. 

Why he is defecting 

Among the claims of the 

former governor’s associates 

were that his successor does 

not respect him and had 

treated him with contempt. 

One source also claimed that 

Senator Akpabio was peeved 

by what he feared as the use 

of numerical strength of the 

Ibibio against him. Akapbio is 

from the minority Annang 

ethnic stock, while Emmanuel 

is from the majority Ibibio 

ethnic stock. 

There was also the claim that 

Emmanuel was grooming the 

son-in-law of a former 

governor of the state as his 

deputy ahead of the 2019 

election. 

The claims were, however, 

dismissed by an associate of 

the governor who, while 

speaking to Vanguard, 

saidGovernor Emmanuel 

practically bows to Akpabio on 

all matters from governance 

to party affairs. 

“It is because of this that he 

left the running of the party to 

his predecessor,” the source 

said. 

An associate of the governor, 

however, affirmed that should 

Akpabio go ahead to defect 

that it could be his greatest 

mistake in life as, according 

to him, it would mean that 

“the king has decided to dance 

naked in public.” 

•Meets Buhari in London 

Vanguard gathered that 

mutual associates of the two 

men had at the weekend 

moved to bring the two men 

together for a meeting. 

Akpabio meets Buhari 

in London 

It could not be confirmed at 

press time if that meeting had 

taken place as it emerged that 

Akpabio was reported to have 

travelled to London where he 

reportedly met with President 

Muhammadu Buhari. 

The meeting of the two men 

in London, yesterday, was 

made known after the 

President’s Special Assistant 

on Online Media, Mr. Bashir 

Ahmad, tweeted the picture 

of Senator Akpabio meeting 

with the President. 

Following the meeting, 

Senator Akpabio in a tweet on 

his personal handle, 

@SenatorAkpabio, said: “Our 

most important task as leaders 

is to engage in meaningful 

discussion and share ideas 

that will build the bridge 

between the struggle of today 

and the future we will all be 

proud of.” 

Final decision to defect 

lies with Akpabio 

Meanwhile, the PDP was, 

yesterday, claiming to have 

done everything to retain his 

membership of the opposition 

party. 

A party leader, however, 

affirmed that its constitution 

only allows room for defection 

if cracks exist within its fold, 

adding that at the national 

level and the Akwa Ibom State 

chapter of the party, the PDP 

has no factions. 

A prominent member of the 

PDP National Working 

Committee, NWC, told 

Vanguard, yesterday, that 

speculations on the 

lawmaker’s imminent 

defection were not new, 

stating, however, that the 

party has continued to explore 

ways of handling the 

situation. 

The source said although the 

PDP will go the whole hog to 

retain the membership of one 

of its arrowheads and 

stalwarts, the party leader said 

the final decision lies with the 

lawmaker. 

15 presidential aspirants flay defections, 

say it’s plot to sabotage change 

By Emmanuel 

Aziken, Political 

Editor 

FIFTEEN presidential 

aspirants, representing 

what they termed the new 

breed of politicians, have 

flayed the recent wave of 

defections by prominent 

politicians, describing it as an 

attempt by political 

establishment to neutralise the 

change Nigerians desire in 

2019. 

The presidential aspirants, 

including former Central 

Bank of Nigeria, CBN, 

Deputy Governor, Dr. 

Kingsley Moghalu; 

leadership expert cum 

motivational speaker, Fela 

Durotoye; Saharareporters 

publisher, Omoyele Sowore; 

ANNIVERSARY: 

Ambassador of 

Benin Republic to 

Nigeria, Mrs 

Paulette Yekpe 

(3rd right), 

Senior Special 

Assistant to the 

President on 

National 

Assembly Matters 

(Senate), Sen Ita 

Enang (2nd 

right); 

Ambassador, 

Central Africa 

Republic, Mr Aloy 

Michel (left) and 

other dignitaries 

cutting the 

anniversary cake 

during the 58th 

Independence of 

Benin Republic, 

in Abuja, 

yesterday. Photo: 

NAN. 

real estate mogul turned 

philanthropist, Dr. Elishama 

Ideh; businessman and 

economist, Tope Fasua, 

among others in a 

communiqué, firmly put the 

problems of the country on 

those they said ran the country 

between 1960 and now. 

The politicians were drawn 

from different political parties. 

Saying that the move by the 

politicians to seek new identity 

was a plot to sabotage the real 

change that Nigerians desire, 

they called on Nigerians not 

to be deceived but to focus on 

the new political players who 

they said have the capacity to 

bring change. 

They also vowed to forge a 

united front that would elevate 

the change. 

The others who signed the 

NNPC denies financing 

Saraki’s impeachment 

By Michael Eboh 

A BUJA—Nigerian 

National Petroleum 

Corporation, NNPC, 

yesterday, dissociated itself 

from the politicking in the 

National Assembly, 

dismissing insinuations that 

its chief executive was 

financing the planned 

impeachment of the Senate 

President, Dr Bukola Saraki. 

In a statement in Abuja, 

Group General Manager, 

Group Public Affairs Division 

of the NNPC, Mr. Ndu 

Ughamadu, distanced the 

corporation and its Group 

Managing Director, Mr. 

Maikanti Baru, from the 

ongoing political tango in 

the National Assembly and 

the trending reports 

insinuating that Baru had 

communiqué included 

Thomas-Wilson Ikubese, 

Comrade Eragbe Anslem, 

Sina Fagbenro-Byron, Jaye 

Gaskia, Ahmed Buhari and 

Mathias Tsado. 

The rest were Victor Ani- 

Laju, Alistair Soyode, 

Godstime Sidney Iroabuchi 

and Clement Jimbo 

Noting that past leaders 

caused the problems of the 

country, they said: “We are 

very clear in our minds and 

share the collective conviction, 

that our present woes, in their 

history is a result of collective 

failure of leadership by those 

who have been in the 

leadership of our country for 

decades, and the 

establishment that has 

institutionalised support in 

their self-interest.” 

doled out funds to effect the 

impeachment of Dr. Saraki 

.Ughamadu described the 

report as the handiwork of 

mischief makers seeking to 

drag the NNPC and its chief 

executive into a purely 

political affair totally different 

from its mandate as the 

national oil company with 

fiduciary responsibilities to 

the government and people 

of the Federal Republic of 

Nigeria. 

He said: “The report is not 

only false but also an affront 

on the verifiable reforms in 

the operations of the 

corporation under the remit 

of Dr. Baru, which has 

witnessed irreversible strides 

in the area of transparency 

leading to the sustained 

publication of NNPC 

monthly operations and 

financial records." 

Buhari, political parties not 

behind mass defections 

— Ex-Minister 

By Luminous 

Jannamike 

ABUJA— 

Former 

Minister of Health, 

Alhaji Muhammad Pate, has 

stated that neither the 

government of President 

Muhammadu Buhari nor 

political parties were behind 

the gale of defections blowing 

across the polity. 

According to him, the issue 

of defection among 

politicians every four years is 

a problem rooted in the 

structure of Nigeria’s 

democracy. 

In a chat with select 

journalists in Abuja, 

weekend, Pate noted that 

political defectors move 

across parties towards the eve 

of general elections because 

of selfish interests. 

The minister further stated 

that such undue pursuit of 

self-interest among politicians 

was responsible for the 

dysfunctions experienced in 

key areas of our existence 

despite 20 years of 

democratic governance in the 

country. 

He said: “All these 

arguments every four years 

around election become such 

a distraction. But that is not 

making of political parties or 

the making of the 

government. It’s a 

foundational issue because of 

the structure of our 

democracy." 

Why we met 

with 

Ohanaeze 

leaders 

— IPOB 

By Chimaobi 

Nwaiwu 

INDIGENOUS People 

of Biafra, IPOB, 

yesterday, said the meeting 

it had with Ohanaeze 

Ndigbo at Professor Ben 

Nwabueze’s house at 

Atani, Ogbaru Local 

Government Area of 

Anambra State is to test the 

sincerity of the apex Igbo 

social cultural organisation. 

IPOB, in statement by its 

Media and Publicity 

Secretary, Comrade Emma 

Powerful, said: “The 

meeting today (yesterday) 

with Ohanaeze leadership 

at Prof. Nwabueze’s place 

is to find out whether 

Ohanaeze will adhere to 

and do the things spelt out 

in the conditions given to 

them by IPOB last month 

to de-proscribe IPOB. 

"IPOB does not want to 

insult our elders but elders 

should know how to behave 

to avoid the young ones 

and youths embarrassing 

them."

C 

M 

Y 

K 

VANGUARD, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2018—9 


GRADUATION: From left, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Mrs Nuratu Batagarawa; 

Commandant of National Defence College, NDC, Rear Admiral Adeniyi Osinowo; Secretary to the 

Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha; Minister of Defence, Brig.-Gen. Mansur Dan- 

Ali (retd); Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Gabriel Olonisakin, and Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral 

Ibok Ete-Ibas, during the presentation of books volumes 1 and 2, ‘Strategic Lenses’ at the graduation 

of Course 26 participants of NDC in Abuja, weekend. Photo: NAN. 

Saraki worked to frustrate FG 

budgets — Lai Mohammed 

•Says report of siege to his home is fake news 

By Emmanuel 

Aziken, Political 

Editor 

P RESIDENT 

Muhammadu Buhariled 

administration has 

accused Senate President, Dr 

Bukola Saraki, of frustrating 

the pace of government 

projects through deliberate 

delay of annual budgets of the 

government in the National 

Assembly. 

Speaking in an 

interview,weekend, Minister 

of Information and Culture, 

Alhaji Lai Mohammed, also 

described as fake news 

reports, penultimate Tuesday, 

of the siege to the home of 

the Senate President, saying 

nothing like that happened. 

Mohammed, who spoke to 

newsmen in Lagos on the 

impact of defections on the 

government, also dismissed 

claims by Saraki that he did 

not get any appointment in 

Buhari government and 

claims by Governor Aminu 

Tambuwal that his state was 

starved of Federal 

Government projects. 

Mohammed said: “We have 

a National Assembly in which 

we had a clear majority in 

both houses but which treated 

the executive with contempt 

and which actually slowed 

down the work of 

government. 

"In 2016, 2017 and 2018, our 

budgets were delayed. We 

can understand 2015 budget 

because we came in the 

middle of the year. But 2016, 

2017, the earliest we got our 

budgets passed was June. 

“Key appointments, 

nominations and 

confirmations for key 

organisations that could move 

the government forward like 

CBN andNDIC were 

delayed. Really, it couldn’t 

have been worse if the PDP 

had a majority in the National 

Assembly. 

“The fundamental thing is 

that for us, it would have been 

better that they left a long time 

earlier because they have 

strangulated this 

government for too long. 

When you are now being 

betrayed by your party, it is 

more painful because we 

can’t fight back as much as 

we wanted to fight back. 

"I just want to establish that 

the foundation of what you 

are seeing today was laid as 

far back as the day he became 

Senate President.” 

Report of siege to 

Saraki's home is 

fake news 

Asked to respond to the 

siege to the residence of the 

Senate President penultimate 

Tuesday, he said: “It was fake 

news, it didn’t happen. I 

called the IG and the Police 

PRO went on television that 

it was not true. 

"In this age of fake news, 

you could manipulate 

pictures in a manner that 

something that happened 

somewhere could be 

transposed here.” 

Opportunity of 

making 

appointments 

Responding to Saraki’s 

allegation that he was denied 

opportunity of making 

appointments in the APC 

Federal Government, he 

said: “I think it is a blatant lie 

that Kwara State was not 

considered in appointments. 

There are 26 appointees to 

boards, parastatals, either as 

members or DG from Kwara 

State and of these 26, I 

recommended only two. The 

other 24 were done by Dr. 

Bukola Saraki. 

"In terms of development, 

the arterial road of Ilorin, 

Jebba, Mokwa, Birnin Gwari 

is 80 per cent completed. It is 

one of the major roads that 

links the state. On the other 

hand, it is this same 

government that awarded the 

contract for Lokoja-Omu 

Aran-Ilorin road. 

"In terms of housing, we are 

building many two-bedroom 

houses in Ilorin. Again, in 

terms of appointment, one of 

the chairmen of parastatals is 

former chairman of APC, 

Ishola Balogun Fulani. So it 

is a blatant lie.” 

He said the exit of Saraki 

from the APC was for the 

people of Kwara State like 

their independence. 

“As far as the people of 

Kwara State are concerned, 

it was as if finally, the state 

was being liberated. The 

excitement today in Kwara 

State is akin to how Nigeria 

felt on the eve of 

independence. 

“The moment he joined the 

APC, the former ACN, former 

ANPP, former CPC members 

who are in APC, many of 

them left APC because they 

could not be in the same 

camp with him. So what we 

are witnessing today in Kwara 

State is like a liberation." 

Saraki reacts 

However, Saraki 

responding through his 

special adviser on media, 

Mr. Yusuph Olaniyonu, 

debunked the claims by the 

minister, describing them 

No right-thinking Nigerian'll 

applaud what is going on 

in the country —Obasanjo 

•Says Bafarawa diligent, humble 

By Gbenga Oke 

FORMER President, 

Chief Olusegun 

Obasanjo, said yesterday 

that no right thinking 

Nigerian would applaud the 

current situation in the 

country, adding that Nigeria 

deserved better. 

He also said if opposition 

parties in the country 

refused to act together, the 

current situation in Nigeria 

would continue after 2019 

elections. 

Obasanjo, who spoke 

when former governor of 

Sokoto State, Alhaji Attahiru 

Bafarawa, visited him at his 

Presidential Library in 

Abeokuta, said if the 

opposition continued to pull 

in different direction, 

Nigeria’s situation might not 

change. 

Meanwhile, Minister of 

Information and Culture, 

Alhaji Lai Mohammed, 

could not be reached last 

night to react to the former 

President’s statement. 

He said: “If we do not act 

together, Nigeria will not be 

what it should be in 2019. 

The objective must be clear 

that only one person will be 

President of Nigeria but if 

the opposition starts going 

in different directions and 

pulling in different ways, 

Nigeria's situation may not 

change” . 

“With a population of 200 

million and for us to continue 

to complain shows we keep 

doing the same thing we 

have been doing. If we want 

a different result, we need to 

do things differently. 

‘’The situation in Nigeria 

today is not a situation which 

any right-thinking Nigerian 

will applaud and my strong 

belief is that Nigeria deserves 

better than what we have 

right now." 

Calling on all opposition 

parties to work together, he 

said: “What I will say is that 

if we do not act together, 

Nigeria will not be where it 

should be by 2019. 

Aspiration yes, but we must 

be objective together. 

“I want to thank you for 

coming to seek my fatherly 

advice on your presidential 

aspiration. When we were in 

government between 1999 

and 2007, we both disagreed 

on many issues but our 

disagreement was based on 

principle but we still worked 

together eventually. 

"So your desire is to see 

what you can do to make 

Nigeria better than what it is 

right now and I believe there 

is nobody that wants a better 

Nigeria that will not want to 

contribute his own quota." 

Bafarawa on his 

presidential 

ambition 

Speaking on his 

Presidential aspiration, 

Bafarawa said he decided to 

visit former President 

Obasanjo to seek his advice 

and blessings ahead of his 

declaration. 

He said: “I came here to 

see Obasanjo because he 

knows what I have done, 

what I can do and he has 

confidence in my ability and 

capability to run for the 

number one seat in Nigeria. 

My achievements as 

governor of Sokoto State is a 

yardstick to measure what I 

can do for this country.” . 

Speaking on the defection 

of Tambuwal, Bafarawa said: 

“I believe Wamakko is not a 

politician, if he is a politician, 

even as Tambuwal has 

defected, he should have 

respected his right to 

decamp. 

"What is the essence of him 

trying to show popularity in 

Sokoto. If he thinks he is 

popular, he should wait till 

the day of election to show 

he is popular but with what 

I saw yesterday, Wamakko is 

too big to be doing that to 

his own younger brother, 

Tambuwal." 

Presidency alleges threat to 2019 polls, appeals to NASS 

to reconvene 

THE 

Presidency, 

weekend, raised the 

alarm over threat to 2019 

general elections by 

National Assembly and 

appealed to the lawmakers 

to urgently reconvene to 

deliberate on the request of 

President Muhammadu 

Buhari on the issue and 

other pending matters 

before them. 

According to the 

Presidency, also in danger 

is the supplementary 

budget to fund the 2018 

budget. 

Senior Special Assistant to 

the President on National 

as far-fetched. 

He said: “How can the 

minister behave as if he was 

not in the country when 

Heads of MDAs will refuse 

to appear before National 

Assembly committees to 

defend their budget 

proposals. 

"This year as late as June, 

the National Assembly 

leadership at a meeting 

reported to the President 

how his ministers were 

frustrating passage of the 

budget by not appearing 

before the legislative 

committees to defend their 

budget. 

"On that occasion, 

President Buhari 

apologised to the legislators 

and said the impression he 

got before the meeting was 

different. 

"On the police siege to the 

home of Saraki, if Mr. 

Mohammed can only 

believe the IG who told him 

he did not deploy 

policemen to prevent the 

passage of the Senate 

President, how did the 

pictures and video of the 

event that was circulated 

online come about? I am 

sure Mr. Mohammed is the 

only Nigerian who believes 

the siege did not take 

place.” 

Assembly Matters (Senate), 

Mr. Ita Enang, who raised 

the alarm in Lagos, said 

though the National 

Assembly should not be 

blamed for suddenly going 

on recess, the lawmakers 

should consider the interest 

of the country and urgently 

reconvene to consider the 

requests of the President. 

Recall that the Senate, on 

July 24 adjourned sittings 

for the next two months, 

following the siege to the 

residences of the Senate 

President, Bukola Saraki 

and his deputy, Ike 

Ekweremadu, by security 

operatives on July 24 and is 

expected to reconvene on 

September 25. 

Some of the pending 

urgent issues before the 

adjournment included the 

approval of a supplementary 

budget to fund the 2018 

budget and the 2019 

general elections. 

The supplementary funds 

would enable Independent 

National Electoral 

Commission, INEC, to 

commence preparation for 

the 2019 polls. 

Also pending are several 

key appointments for the 

EFCC, ICPC, Deputy CBN 

Governor and AMCON 

among others. 

Enang said: “We are 

appealing to Senate 

leadership and all caucuses 

of the National Assembly to 

see this as a clarion call for 

the good of the nation. 

“As the Liaison Officer 

between NASS and the 

Federal Government, I 

know it is not the intention 

of the lawmakers to make 

Nigerians suffer. 

“The NASS vacation is 

usually planned to coincide 

with school vacations so that 

members can spend time 

with their children. 

However, this is an election 

year and the budget has just 

been appended to, hence 

the urgent need to give 

approval for supplementary 

funds for it."

Y 

K 

10 — Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2018 

QUACKERY: Lagos NMA calls for 

implementation of prescription 

rights 

By Chioma Obinna 

LAGOS—THE Nigeria 

Medical Association, 

NMA, in Lagos State has 

called for the immediate 

implementation of the 

country’s Prescription 

Rights policy with a view to 

stamping out drug abuse as 

well as reducing quackery 

in the healthcare system. 

Speaking at a press 

conference, the newly 

elected Chairman of the 

Association in Lagos, Dr. 

Saliu Oseni stressed the 

need for a legislation that 

would ensure that 

Prescription Rights was 

strictly adhered to in 

dispensing drugs. 

Oseni said: “Most of the 

time, the problem we 

always have is that the 

patient is already battered 

from using different types of 

drugs that are not meant for 

the disease he or she has 

before presenting in the 

hospital. 

“Implementing 

Prescription Rights will limit 

over-the-counter drug 

availability so that drug 

abuse and the misuse of 

drugs will also be limited. 

He who will prescribe is he 

that can make the diagnosis. 

Catholic Archbishop restates 

call for restructuring 

By Sam Eyoboka 

L AGOS—THE 

Catholic Archbishop 

of Lagos, Dr. Alfred Adewale 

Martins, yesterday, restated 

his call for restructuring of 

the nation, stressing that 

almost 58 years of 

independence, it is wrong 

for anyone or group to 

arrogate to themselves the 

unwarranted role of 

deciding the country's. 

Lending his voice to 

recent upsurge of agitations 

for the restructuring of the 

nation, Archbishop Martins 

acknowledged that Nigeria 

is passing through very 

disturbing times, because 

some people “have turned 

the nation to their play fields 

and fiefdoms that should be 

exploited and balkanized 

for their selfish ends.” 

Briefing newsmen at the 

end of a thanksgiving 

service to mark his 6th 

anniversary of his 

installation as Catholic 

Archbishop, he lamented 

that the polity is continually 

being heated up by the 

political elites who have 

paid attention to the various 

calls against perceived 

injustices across the country. 

Pointing out that Nigeria 

belongs to all Nigerians, the 

cleric maintained that it is 

therefore “wrong for any 

group of individuals, under 

any guise to arrogate to 

themselves the 

unwarranted role of 

deciding who gets and does 


The only sets of people that 

have the right to make a 

diagnosis and plan 

treatment for patients are 

medical doctors and 

veterinary doctors.” 

Oseni regretted that in 

Nigeria, people go to the 

laboratory, run tests that are 

not necessary and they 

prescribed drugs for them 

at the labs, adding that, 

‘when those treatments fail, 

they now bring the test to 

say, ‘doctor this is the test I 

have done’.” 

“In more than 90 percent 

of the cases, the tests are not 

even related to what is 

wrong with the patient; it is 

about money-making.” 

Members elected to steer 

the association at the 

biennial election are; Dr. 

Tunji Adenekan, 1st Vicechairman; 

Dr. Bright 

Igbinoba, 2nd Vicechairman; 

Dr. Ramon 

Moronkola, Secretary; Dr. 

Bashiru Oloyede, Deputy 

Secretary; and Dr. Moruf 

Abdulsalam, Publicity 

Secretary. 

Others are Dr. Ann 

Okonma, Treasurer; Dr. 

Modupe Abiola, Financial 

Secretary, Dr. Bemjamin 

Olowojebutu, Social 

Secretary; and Dr. Japhet 

Olugbogi, Internal Auditor. 

not get what in a country 

that belongs to all. 

He said: “Unfortunately, 

we see this playing out 

every day in the name of 

party politics whereby a 

group of individuals 

‘scramble’ for, and selfishly 

allot to themselves and their 

cronies the wealth and 

resources of this great 

country while leaving little 

or nothing for the masses 

of the people of Nigeria.'' 

APAPA GRIDLOCK: Ambode expands 

trailer park capacity to over 5,000 

•Says gridlock'll end in eight weeks 

•Withdraw licence of shipping firms without holding bays, Labour urges NPA 

By Victor Ahiuma- 

Young, 

Olasunkanmi Akoni 

& Monsuru 

Olowoopejo 

LAGOS—AS a way of 

easing traffic gridlock 

on the Apapa-Oshodi 

Expressway and environs, 

Governor Akinwunmi 

Ambode of Lagos State, 

yesterday, disclosed that a 

5,000-capacity truck 

terminal will be constructed 

in the Ijanikin axis of the 

state. It will serve as another 

parking lot for articulated 

trucks in the state in 

addition to the Asiwaju Bola 

Ahmed Tinubu, ABAT, 

truck terminal at Orile- 

Iganmu. 

He also assured 

residents that the traffic 

gridlock will be 

permanently addressed 

within eight weeks. 

Governor Ambode spoke 

as Maritime Workers 

Union of Nigeria, MWUN, 

urged the Nigerian Ports 

Authority, NPA, to withdraw 

the operating licence of any 

shipping company without 

a holding bay within a 

stipulated time. 

Ambode said this at the 

flag-off of expansion works 

on the 1,000 capacity ABAT 

truck terminal during an 

inspection tour of Apapa 

axis. 

He said: “I want to appeal 

to residents of Lagos that 

within eight weeks, we 

should be able to get the 

trucks terminal working 

and ensure that we bring 

lasting solution to gridlock 

within the Apapa ports. 

“My visit here is to flagoff 

the reconstruction of the 

trailer park in Orile so that 

it can accommodate 1,000 

Implement judiciary, legislative 

financial autonomy, Conference 

of Speakers urges FG 

By Ebun Sessou 

L Conference 

AGOS—THE 

of 

Speakers of the State 

Legislatures of Nigeria 

has urged the Federal 

Government to direct 

relevant government 

agencies to ensure prompt 

implementation of the 

new constitutional 

provision granting 

financial autonomy to the 

judiciary and state 

legislatures. 

This came as the 

conference elected Lagos 

State House of Assembly 

Speaker, Mudashiru 

Obasa, as its new 

chairman. 

The conference said this 

at its 2018 Second Quarter 

Conference held, in 

Lagos, at the weekend. 

In a communiqué at the 

end of the conference, 

read by the Chairman, 

Electoral Committee and 

Communiqué Drafting 

Committee, Mr. Ahmed 

Guni, said: “Among other 

things, the conference 

reviewed and adopted the 

report of its special 

committee set up to 

facilitate an efficient and 

effective implementation 

of the financial autonomy 

law for the state 

legislatures and the 

judiciary. 

“The conference also 

deliberated on topical 

national issues. The 

conference equally elected 

a new set of a national 

executive that will run the 

affairs of the conference.” 

TRAFFIC HELL: Ever present traffic snarl on the Apapa-Oshodi Express 

Road. Photo by Bunmi Azeez. 

trucks. We will do this in 

collaboration with the NPA 

in order to have effective 

call-up system within the 

parks. 

“The expansion to this 

terminal will be used 

temporarily for cargo trucks. 

Through this, we will be 

able to sectionalise or 

provide a separate park for 

the trucks in the state.” 

Commending the 

Federal Government for 

approving reconstruction of 

Apapa-Oshodi 

Expressway and rail tracks 

to link Ibadan, Ambode 

said his administration was 

considering the use of 

badges on waterways to 

complement both modes of 

transportation system. 

In his remarks, the 

Chairman, Association of 

Maritime Truck Owners, 

AMATO, Chief Remi 

Ogungbemi said: “Today is 

the beginning of a new era 

as far as Lagos State is 

concerned. We have been 

saying it that our Governor 

is an action Governor and 

his coming here today has 

shown that he is very 

dynamic and pragmatic. 

This is what we have been 

expecting and for the 

governor to be here to see 

things, and flag off the 

rehabilitation and 

expansion of this terminal, 

shows that he is not only 

talking but also matching 

words with action.” 

Traffic diversion on 

Festac Link Bridge 

Meantime, following the 

inferno that destroyed 

several vehicles and 

affected the structural 

integrity of Festac Link 

Bridge, Amuwo Odofin 

Local Government Area, 

the Lagos State Traffic 

Management Authority, 

LASTMA, has announced 

plans to partially close the 

bridge to traffic to complete 

repair works on the bridge. 

In a statement, the 

General Manager of 

LASTMA, Wale Musa, 

said motorists coming out 

of Festac from 1st, 2nd, 11th 

Avenues, and 21 Road 

were advised to make use 

of the link bridge to connect 

Apple-Junction while, 

motorists going into Festac 

from Oshodi, Cele, Ago 

Palace Way and Second 

Rainbow are to link 

Durbar Road enroute 

Mazamaza Bridge to 

Festac 1st Gate; or 

motorists coming from 

Oshodi and Cele are to 

make use of Mile 2, to 

connect Festac through 

Mazamaza Bridge and 

Festac 1st Gate. 

Withdraw licence of 

shipping firms without 

holding bays, Labour 

urges NPA 

MWUN lamented that 

shipping companies 

without holding bays 

have contributed in no 

small measure to the 

chaotic gridlock on 

Oshodi-Apapa road that 

leads to the nation’s two 

major seaports of Apapa 

and Tin-Can. 

In a joint statement by 

its President General and 

Secretary General, 

Adeyanju Adewale and 

Felix Akingboye, 

respectively, MWUN have 

commended the Federal 

Government for 

approving the total 

reconstruction of the 

Oshodi-Apapa 

expressway. 

In the statement 

announcing the 

suspension of the 21-day 

ultimatum issued on July 

5, the union said among 

others that it commended 

“President Muhammadu 

Buhari and Vice President 

Yemi Osibanjo (SAN) who 

has visited Apapa twice 

recently to assess the 

situation as well as gave 

order that the trucks that 

have taken over the road, 

caused unprecedented 

gridlock, be cleared to allow 

other road users access. We 

equally commend the 

Minister of Transportation, 

Rt Honourable Rotimi 

Ameachi, and Managing 

Director of Nigeria Ports 

Authority (NPA), Hadiza 

Bala Usman for all their 

efforts in ensuring that 

the Oshodi-Apapa 

Expressway becomes 

motorable. Similarly, we 

commend the President of 

Dangote Group, Alhaji 

Aliko Dangote for the 

good work Dangote 

Group is doing at Flour 

Mill end of the road and 

the speed the company is 

using to reconstruct the 

road. 

“Never the less, we call 

on the government to direct 

the Dangote group to 

immediately move to site 

and begin the 

reconstruction of Oshodi- 

Apapa expressway without 

further delay. We also want 

priority attention to be given 

to the Tin-Can axis of the 

road down to Berger 

because of its importance 

and level of deterioration. 

We equally call on 

government to fix other 

alternative roads and 

devise effective way of 

controlling and easing 

traffic during the 

reconstruction of the road. 

Most importantly, the 

government and Dangote 

Group should ensure that 

the time frame for the 

reconstruction of the road 

is strictly adhered. 

“Finally, we call on the 

management of NPA to 

enforce the directive on 

holding bays by the 

shipping companies and 

to withdraw the 

operating license of any 

shipping company that 

fails to comply within a 

stipulated time.” 

C

C 

M 

Y 

K 

VANGUARD, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2018 — 11 


2019: 10 Commissioners, SAs in Ondo set 

to dump APC 

By Dayo Johnson 

AKURE — BARRING 

any last minute 

change, no fewer than 10 

Commissioners and 

Special Advisers in the 

Ondo State Executive 

Council will dump the All 

Progressives Congress, 

APC, for the Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP; 

Labour Party LP; Social 

Democratic Party, SDP. 

Vanguard reliably 

gathered that the 

commissioners, as a 

prelude, will contest the 

party’s ticket for the 

National Assembly seat 

next year and if deprived 

will take the plunge. 

An APC chieftain in 

Ondo State told 

Vanguard on the 

condition of anonymity, that 

the defection is as a result 

of the alleged “overbearing 

influence of the Special 

Assistants SAs and Special 

Advisers SAs appointed 

by Governor Rotimi 

Akeredolu in their 

individual ministries. 

“Many of them have been 

rendered impotent as the 

governor sidelines them 

and relates to the 

technocrats instead of the 

politicians in a bid not to 

empower them.” 

Those eyeing either the 

House of Representatives 

seat or the Senate include 

the Woman Affairs 

commissioner, Wunmi 

Edet Olatunji; the 

secretary to the State 

Government, Ifedayo 

Abegunde; a special 

Adviser and former speaker 

•Nobody's defecting — Ondo govt 

House of Assembly, Victor 

Olabimtan; Youth and 

Sports Commissioner, Saka 

Yusuf’; Physical Planning 

And Urban Development, 

Sola Amodeni, and 

Finance, Wale Akinterinwa. 

Others are the 

Commissioner for 

Agriculture, Gboyega 

Adefarati; Information and 

Orientation, Yemi 

Olowolabi; Commerce, 

Timehin Adelegbe; 

Culture and Tourism, 

Ismaila Olurimisi; Housing 

Commissioner, Donald 

Ojogo; Natural Resources, 

Rasheed Badmus, and the 

Special Adviser on 

Transport, Tobi Ogunleye. 

Some of the 

commissioners confirmed 

Vanguard’s findings 

saying that many of them 

could not travel to their 

constituencies because 

they do not have the means 

to oil the structures. 

A party chieftain told 

Vanguard that “most of 

these people have been 

rendered useless and the 

governor seems not 

bothered by them and I am 

confirming to you that some 

of these men might leave 

soon." 

Ondo govt reacts 

Reacting, the Chief Press 

Secretary to the 

governor, Mr. Segun 

Ajiboye said: “Though 

some members of the 

cabinet may be nursing 

political ambitions, it will 

not disturb or distract them 

from working for the state. 

“We are in the season of 

politics and some cabinet 

members have been 

showing interest in 

contesting one seat or the 

other. I can confirm to you 

that nobody is ready and 

willing to defect or jump 

ship to any other party. 

“The governor and the 

Commissioners work 

together as one big family 

to bring unprecedented 

development into the state 

and they are happy in 

carrying out their duties to 

the people of the state.” 

PRESENTATION: From left; Chairman, Ijede Local Council Development 

Area, Hon. Salisu Jimoh; a beneficiary of the empowerment programme for 

Women organised by First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Taibat Amusa; 

Group Head, Corporate Affairs of the Bank, Mr. Diran Olojo; another 

beneficiary, Ganiyat Adenekan and Chief Operating Manager, Green Energy 

Biofuels Limited, Mr. Michael Ologunoye, during the presentation of biofuel 

stoves and gels to the beneficiaries at Ijede in Ikorodu, Lagos. 

Osun gov poll: Adeleke, youth group bicker over 

certificate scandal 

By Gbenga 

Olarinoye 

O Campaign 

SOGBO—THE 

Organisation of Senator 

Ademola Adeleke and an 

Osun state based socialpolitical 

group, the 

Renewal Youth Movement, 

RYM, yesterday, engaged 

in a war of words over the 

alleged certificate scandal 

involving Senator Adeleke. 

While the RYM called on 

Senator Adeleke to 

immediately withdraw from 

the 2018 Osun 

governorship race 

following his involvement 

in the ongoing certificate 

scandal, Adeleke’s 

campaign orgnisation 

called on the Police to stop 

the harassment saying 

there is no forgery. 

In a statement, two of its 

leaders, Muftau Adegoke 

and Rasheed Adegbenro 

chided the leadership of the 

PDP for screening and 

clearing Adeleke to contest 

that party’s primary despite 

the alleged discrepancies 

discovered in his 

certificates. 

The statement said: “If 

PDP leaders are sincere; if 

they are not corrupt and if 

they want the good of all, 

Senator Adeleke ought not 

to have scaled through the 

party’s screening process 

in the first instance. What 

is going on in the state is 

not only an open sore to the 

Adeleke’s dynasty that has 

shown great interest in 

education to the extent of 

establishing a private 

university but it a shame to 

the entire Osun State 

citizens that a serving 

senator who wants to 

govern them can be 

enmeshed in such a mess. 

“Nothing is hidden again 

about Senator Adeleke’s 

certificate scandal following 

the display by INEC of 

credentials of all the 

governorship candidates 

and their deputies." 

Adeleke’s campaign 

reacts 

On its part, the Adeleke 

Campaign organisation, 

in a statement by the 

Director of the media of the 

organization, Mr. Olawale 

Rasheed said: “We are 

constrained to issue this 

statement on the recent 

arrest and persecution of 

the Principal of Ede Muslim 

High School over false 

accusations of forged school 

Testimonial issued to 

Senator Ademola Adeleke 

as a former student of the 

school because of a date 

error." 

“We note with great alarm 

the politically motivated 

arrest and unwarranted 

media attacks designed as 

a tool of harassment, 

persecution and character 

assassination of the PDP 

flag bearer; Senator 

Ademola Nurudeen 

Adeleke. 

“It is insane to continue 

to peddle falsehood 

questioning Senator 

Adeleke’s attendance of 

Ede Muslim Grammer 

School (Now Ede Muslim 

High School), where he 

was very popular and well 

known for his amiable and 

friendly character, always 

drawing people close and 

seeking their cheerfulness 

and joy, a fact his 

schoolmates and alumni 

members attested to. 

“He was, in fact, the 

President of the Old 

Students Association until 

recently. 

“We note with great 

concern the ridiculous 

criminalising of a simple 

issuance of School 

Testimonial to a former 

student. 

“We, therefore, call on the 

police authorities to 

unconditionally release Mr. 

Abbass Khalib Adejare; the 

principal of Ede Muslim 

High School who is 

currently held in Lagos a 

distant and disconnected 

jurisdiction of School in 

Ede, Osun State. 

“The school under his 

supervision had only 

performed a legal 

administrative duty 

through the issuance of a 

testimonial. Please note 

that a Testimonial is simply 

a statement of character 

attestation and confirmation 

of the years of attendance 

at the school and not a 

school certificate.” 

EFCC begins investigation of 

Fayose, wife, others 

LAGOS — STRONG 

indications emerged, 

yesterday, that the 

Economic and Financial 

Crimes Commission, 

EFCC, has begun the 

investigation of Governor 

Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti 

State and his wife, 

Feyisetan, as well as his top 

aides. 

Efforts, however, to get the 

governor's Chief Press 

Secretary, Mr. Idowu 

Adelusi, proved abortive as 

he refused to answer his 

calls. 

TheCable gathered that 

others being investigated 

are spokesman to the 

governor, Mr. Lere 

Olayinka; the State 


Finance, Toyin Ojo; and 

the state’s Accountant 

General, Oluyemisi 

Owolabi. 

Sources in the know of 

the investigation said the 

anti-graft agency may 

charge the governor, his 

wife, and members of his 

‘26m Nigerians suffering 

from viral hepatitis' 

By Gabriel Olawale 

LAGOS— NO fewer 

than 26 million 

Nigerians are living with 

Viral Hepatitis B and C, 

even as stakeholders called 

for the early diagnosis and 

treatment of the disease to 

reduce increasing 

incidences of liver problems 

and deaths. 

Disclosing this at a free 

screening exercise jointly 

organised by Clinton 

Health Access Initiative, 

CHAI, and Health Matters 

Incorporated, HMI, for 

Otumara Ilaje Community, 

Ebute Metta, in Lagos, the 

Programme Director, HMI, 

Peter Ujomu said: 

“Hepatitis B does not 

present symptoms on time, 

CBN moves to disburse lower 

currency denominations 

By Ola Ajayi ‘Promoting Financial 

Stability and Economic 

I CENTRAL BADAN—THE 

Bank of 

Nigeria, CBN, has begun 

a process that would make 

the country’s lower 

currency denominations 

available to Nigerians. 

This was disclosed by the 

Assistant Director, 

Currency Operations 

Department of the CBN, 

Mr. Benedict Maduagwu. 

To achieve this, he said 

the apex bank has advised 

the marketers to open a 

corporate account with 

commercial banks and 

demand for lower 

denominations from their 

respective banks. 

Speaking at the CBN’s 

FAIR programme entitled: 

cabinets with money 

laundering and abuse of 

office. 

In one of the letters seen 

by TheCable, dated July 20, 

2018, and addressed to the 

Managing Director and the 

chief compliance officer of 

Access Bank Plc, showed 

that EFCC is also 

investigating the governor 

for abuse of office. 

The EFCC listed four 

Access Bank accounts 

being run by “Ayodele Peter 

Fayose”, and about five 

accounts in the same bank, 

being run by “Feyisetan 

Helen O. Fayose”, believed 

to be the wife of the 

governor. 

Some of the letters 

referenced “CR:3000/ 

EFCC/ABJ/EG-TA/ 

VOL.57/254” and 

“CR:3000/EFCC/ABJ/EG- 

TA/VOL.57/258” requested 

that the banks’ compliance 

officers should report at the 

EFCC economic 

governance section on 

Tuesday, July 24, 2018. 

by the time symptoms 

present, the liver is severely 

damaged and at that time, 

treatment may be difficult. 

“That is the reason we are 

going out to sensitise 

Nigerians about the virus 

so that those that have it can 

start treatment before the 

liver is badly damaged.” 

Speaking on the theme of 

this year’s World Hepatitis 

Day ‘Finding the Missing 

Millions’, he said: “We are 

doing advocacy and public 

enlightenment campaign 

on hepatitis B and C and 

other forms of viral hepatitis 

to mark the World Hepatitis 

Day with free screening 

tagged, “Finding the 

Missing Millions. This is a 

strategic plan to get rid of 

the virus by the year 2020.” 

Development’, the bank 

had told over 1,000 

participants that it had 

commenced the direct 

disbursement of N200, 

N100, N50, N20, N10 

and N5 denominations in 

exchange for the higher 

denominations to 

traders, merchants, 

shopping malls, stores, 

supermarkets, market 

men, and women. 

Maduagwu said: “The 

bank has evolved a 

monitoring framework to 

avoid abuse,” noting that 

the bank frowned at 

counterfeiting of the 

nation’s currency; 

spraying of the naira and 

abuse of same.”

12—Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2018 

Wike charges churches on 

redemption of Nigeria 

GOVERNOR Nyesom 

Wike of Rivers State 

has called on the Church 

to rise up and work towards 

the redemption of the 

country. 

Speaking during the 3rd 

Synod of the Anglican 

Diocese of Evo in Port 

Harcourt, yesterday, 

Governor Wike urged the 

Church to intensify prayers 

for the salvation of Nigeria. 

Represented by his Chief 

of Staff, Engr 

Chukwuemeka Woke, the 

Rivers State governor also 

said that the Anglican 

Church should take a 

decision for continuity in 

the state, following the 

o u t s t a n d i n g 

developmental strides 

being enjoyed by Rivers 

people. 


He said: “The Church 

must pray and rise up to 

redeem this country.” 

The governor said that 

the Church cannot stand 

aloof in the face of political 

developments in the 

country. He said that the 

involvement of the church 

was key to national rebirth. 

He said: “You cannot 

build a stronger church in 

isolation of the society. If 

there is a total breakdown 

of law and order, the 

church will also be affected. 

“What we have done in 

three years has shown our 

commitment to 

transforming the state and 

improving the living 

condition of the people. 

The signs of development 

are everywhere in Rivers 

State." 

Bayelsa community lauds 

A'Court judgment on disputed 

SPDC-operated flow station 

By Emem Idio 

Y ENAGOA—THE 

leadership of 

Letugbene community in 

Southern Ijaw Local 


Bayelsa State has 

expressed satisfaction with 

the Appeal Court judgment 

in the case with Egbemo- 

Angalabiri community over 

the rightful owners of all 

lands and areas bordering 

the Tunu Flow Station 

operated by Shell 

Petroleum Development 

Company, SPDC. 

In a statement in 

Yenagoa, the Amananawei 

of Letugbene community, 

HRH Chief Roman 

Derabebe and Community 

Development Committee, 

CDC, Chairman Mr 

Bennett Friday, said "the 

appellate court sitting in 

Port-Harcourt, Rivers State 

judgment of July 27, which 

dismissed the appeal by 

Egbemo-Angalabiri 

community has reaffirmed 

a judgment earlier 

delivered by the Chief 

Judge of Bayelsa State, 

Justice Kate Abiri on July 

30, 2012 in favour of 

Letugbene community." 

Assembly bye-election: PDP, APC 

supporters clash in Obudu 

By Emma Una 

CALABAR—NO fewer 

than 12 vehicles in the 

convoy of Governor Ben 

Ayade of Cross River State, 

were Saturday, reportedly 

destroyed by All 


APC, supporters during a 

face-off with People’s 


faithful during campaign 

by the two parties for the 

state House of Assembly 

bye-election in the area. 

The clash, it was gathered 

took place in Begiading/ 

Ohong ward where the two 

parties supporters met as 

temper flared, leading to 

the conflict. 

“PDP members attacked 

and destroyed the vehicle 

bearing the loud speaker of 

the APC campaign team 

and in retaliation the APC 

faithful attacked the convoy 

of the governor 

represented by the Chief of 

Staff, Martins Orim and 

destroyed the vehicles,” 

John Ukpata, an APC 

supporter said. 

It was gathered that three 

persons had been arrested 

by the police, yesterday 

and more people thought 

to have caused the damage 

were being haunted by the 

police. 

“The APC loyalists are the 

ones causing the mischief 

by saying that Mrs Abbey 

Ukpukpen is not from 

Obubu and should not be 

elected, while we in PDP 

have been carrying out 

peaceful campaign for our 

candidate and telling the 

people that as the widow 

of a late Assembly member, 

she has a right to contest 

and we are making 

headway,” Emmanuel 

Ulayi, a media aide of the 

governor told Vanguard in 

a telephone chat. 

The situation in the area 

has been tense since the 

Independent National 

Electoral Commission, 

INEC, announced the date 

for the bye-election to 

replace a member of the 

House, Stephen Ukpukpen 

who died in May, during 

an early morning jogging 

session. 

The PDP chose Abbey 

Ukpukpen, wife of the late 

Assembly man as the flag 

bearer for the party in the 

election while APC 

candidate is Adah 

Ishamali. 

Governor Ayade had last 

week dispatched all his 

appointees from the area 

where incidentally, he 

comes from for a two-week 

campaign for the PDP 

candidate. The election is 

scheduled for August 11. 

CONFERENCE: A group photograph of participants at the International Conference on 

African Pentecostalism, ICAP. 

Abe to Wike: Institute policies to punish 

law offenders 

By Davies 

Iheamnachor 

P ORT-HARCOURT— 

THE Senator 

representing Rivers South- 

East Senatorial District, 

Magnus Abe, has urged 

Governor Nyesom Wike of 

the state to initiate policies 

to punish those who exhibit 

acts of negligence to 

established laws. 

Abe noted that statements 

by the state government to 

issues of negligence that 

results to loss of lives was 

not enough, stressing that 

the government must be 

ready to punish those who 

flout the laws. 

Abe spoke in Port- 

Harcourt, weekend, when 

he visited the family of Joe 

Blankson, who died in a 

boat mishap on Bakana 

River, Degema Local 

Government Area of the 

state. 

Blankson was said to 

have saved 13 people in the 

boat carrying over 24 

passengers and had gone 

to save the 14th person 

when he drowned. 

Abe said: “I saw the 

statement by the 

Commissioner of 

Information. I want to ask 

the government to go a step 

further. We want to find out 

the reason these things 

happen and nobody 

should be punished or held 

accountable. 

“We need to know that 

where we do not have 

regulations or we fail to 

enforce them, or where 

people are charged with 

responsibility for something 

and they fail to carry them 

out and in the process lives 

are lost, those who did not 

obey such lawful orders 

should be held accountable 

for the incident. 

“As we talk, many people 

have been killed on our 

waterways. If they had life 

jackets, if they obeyed 

regulations that govern our 

waterways, all these deaths 

would not have been 

recorded. We must go 

beyond issuing statements 

to taking practical steps to 

punish offenders. 

“In our area, nobody cares 

about enforcing the law that 

people should not enter the 

boats without live jackets. 

When we heard of the story 

of how he, Joe made efforts 

to save others, it touched 

my heart. “ 

Meanwhile, Dr. Mimi 

Thom-Manuel, who 

responded for the family, 

expressed worries that 

travellers on waterways in 

the state do not take use of 

lifejacket seriously, calling 

on state government to 

make policy that would 

monitor boat operators who 

do not obey the regulation. 

Monarchs beg Okowa to meet LGA chairmen 

on security, others 

By Victor Ahiuma- 

Young 

A 

S A B A — 

TRADITIONAL 

Rulers in Delta State have 

appealed to Governor 

Ifeanyi Okowa of the state 

to urgently convene a joint 

meeting of local 

government chairmen and 

the state council of 

Traditional Rulers to 

deliberate on security and 

other issues of public 

importance. 

In a communique at the 

end of the quarterly 

meeting of the state council 

of Traditional Rulers in 

Asaba, the monarchs said 

besides security, such a 

platform would enable 

stakeholders to interface on 

topical national issues such 

as permanent voters card, 

PVCs, national identity 

card and environmental 

sanitation. 

Chairman of the council, 

Dr. Emmanuel Efeizomor 

II, who read the 

communique, called for a 

one month extension of the 

on-going registration and 

collection Permanent voters 

cards to enable more 

eligible Nigerians register 

and collect the PVCs, 

saying that the suspension 

of the exercise on August 

17 being proposed by the 

Independent National 

Electoral Commission, 

INEC, might lead to the 

disenfranchisement of 

voters during the 2019 

general election. 

“The voters card is key to 

the conduct of free, credible 

and transparent election 

and we want to say that the 

participation of a large 

percentage of the voting 

population in the electoral 

process will confer a 

measure of legitimacy and 

credibility on the process,” 

they said.

VANGUARD, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2018—13 


MOSOP berates HYPREP over failure 

to commence Ogoni clean-up 

MOVEMENT for the 

Survival of Ogoni 

People, MOSOP, has 

described the August 3, 

2018 press briefing by 

Hydrocarbon Pollution and 

Remediation Project, 

HYPREP, in Port Harcourt 

as purposeless and a 

complete distraction. 

Publicity Secretary of 

MOSOP, Mr Fegalo 

Nsuke, who spoke, 

yesterday, in Bori, 

headquarters of Khana 

Local Government Area of 

Rivers State, when he 

hosted some members of 

National Youth Council of 

Ogoni People, NYCOP, 

said HYPREP’s attempt at 

image laundering was 

deceptive as the Ogoni 

clean-up exists only in 

words and on the lips of 

government agents and 

advocates of oil exploration 

resumption in Ogoniland. 

He said: “The clean-up 

programme, as promised 

by our president, has 

shown clear signs of failure 

and not profitable to the 

Ogoni people. What the 

Ogonis need now is for the 

land to be restored and not 

endless talk on internal 

processes and 

preparations. 

“It is a shameful thing that 

the people in Ogoni are 

dying by the day and Shell 

and Nigerian government 

through HYPREP are busy 

calling press conferences 

and explaining their 

endless preparations. 

“We want them to know 

that their press conferences 

cannot change anything 

about the lies we have 

known them for, their 

deception and hatred for 

the Ogoni people.” 

MOSOP spokesperson 

urged Ogoni people not to 

be swayed by the 

deception of HYPREP but 

to continue their peaceful 

approach to press home the 

Ogoni demands for a better 

deal as contained in the 

Ogoni Bill of Rights. 

Nsuke said: “The only 

solution to the Ogoni 

problem is for the 

government to respect the 

rights and demands of 

Ogoni people as contained 

in the Ogoni Bill of Rights 

and not the sneaky attempts 

and connivance with some 

few to force resumption of 

oil exploration in 

Ogoniland.” 

Money for Ogoni clean-up won’t be diverted, FG 

assures stakeholders 

By Davies 

Iheamnachor 

PORT HARCOURT— 

The Federal 

Government has assured 

stakeholders and residents 

of oil impacted Ogoni ethnic 

nationality of Rivers State 

that no part of the fund paid 

for the remediation process 

would be diverted for any 

other use. 

The Federal Government 

also assured that the money 

so far paid for the process 

was intact in a designated 

account, adding that Ogoni 

Trust Fund had been 

incorporated. 

Minister of State for 

Environment, who is also the 

chairman, Governing 

Council of Hydrocarbon 

Pollution Remediation 

Project, HYPREP, Mr 

Ibrahim Jibril, spoke in Port 

Harcourt at the 2nd 

stakeholders meeting on the 

implementation of United 

Nations Environment 

Programme, UNEP, report on 

Ogoniland clean-up 

organised by Federal 

Ministry of Environment 

through HYPREP. 

Jibril, who was 

represented by Dr. Ishaku 

Mohammed noted that 

funding had been an area 

of concern, but stated that 

significant achievements 

had been made. 

He said: “Funding is the 

area of concern. We have 

opened an escrow account. 

We assure that the money for 

the project is sacrosanct for 

the project and will not be 

diverted for other uses. The 

structure of the process is 

formidable that no single 

member or individual can 

withdraw anything without 

going through due process." 

Meanwhile, President of 

KAGOTE and member of 

Board of Trustees, HYPREP, 

Dr. Peter Medee, has 

disclosed that the board had 

successfully opened an 

account with a foreign bank, 

adding that this would 

guarantee security of funds 

for the project. 

He said: “The Ogoni Trust 

Fund has been incorporated. 

Two Ogoni citizens are 

trustees of the fund. Ogoni 

can use the fund without 

interference from the 

Federal Government and it 

is done in such a way that 

change in administration will 

not affect the project. 

“No part of the fund for the 

clean-up is missing. We have 

received the fund from 

international oil companies, 

IOCs, led by Shell. The first 

part of the money had been 

received and is now in the 

Ogoni Trust Fund. An Ogoni 

son is one of the three 

signatories to the account. 

“We have successfully 

opened an account with 

Standard Chartered Bank of 

London. We are now sure 

that the fund is secure." 

BRIEFING: From left, Mr Muda Yusuf, Director General; Mr 

Babatunde Ruwase, President; Mr Knut Ulvwoen, Deputy President 

and Mr Gboyega Olanbiwoninu, Chairman, Insurance Group, all of 

Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, during the 

quarterly press conference on the state of the economy organised 

by President, LCCI, in Lagos. 

Oshiomhole to meet Edo APC leaders 

over alleged neglect by Obaseki 

By Alemma- 

Ozioruva Aliu 

BENIN CITY — 

National Chairman of 

All Progressives Congress, 

APC, Mr Adams 

Oshiomhole, will this week 

meet with leaders of the 

party in Edo State to 

address disenchantment 

among leaders over alleged 

abandonment by Governor 

Godwin Obaseki since his 

election as governor. 

The essence of the 

meeting, it was gathered, 

was to find solutions to the 

problems. 

It was learned that the 

meeting is coming on the 

heel of threats by majority 

of the leadership of the 

party across the three 

senatorial districts to defect 

to other parties. 

Some leaders of the party 

had stormed Oshiomhole’s 

residence when he visited 

Benin City, weekend, to 

inform him of how the APC 

administration in the state 

had abandoned and 

humiliated them, and also 

threatened to leave the 

party if the state governor 

continues his policy of 

alleged exclusion. 

A top party leader 

confirmed the meeting, 

yesterday, adding that it 

will take place on Thursday, 

saying: “This meeting will 

shape the future of APC in 

Edo State because 

everybody is tired and 

angry. Most people had 

remained in the party 

because of Oshiomhole 

who is our leader. 

“He brought Obaseki to 

us to support him and now 

all he built is being 

destroyed by the 

government he put in 

place. So we are hoping he 

will solve the problem so 

that APC will win this state 

in the next elections and 

even in the governorship 

election in 2020," the source 

said. 

It will be recalled that a 

chieftain of the party in the 

state, Charles Idahosa, 

recently resigned from 

APC over what he described 

as the attitude of the 

governor towards party 

leaders in the state but 

rescinded his decision after 

Oshiomhole’s intervention. 

How leadership tussle 

fuelled Amassoma crisis in 

Bayelsa—Community leaders 

By Emem Idio 

Y ENAGOA— 

STARTLING 

revelations have emerged 

on why the civil protest in 

Amassoma community in 

Southern Ijaw Local 


Bayelsa State could not be 

nipped in the bud by the 

community leadership 

before it escalated, leading 

to the loss of lives and 

property. 

The two leadership 

factions in the community, 

which appeared before the 

commission of inquiry into 

Amassoma community civil 

disturbances sitting at the 

multi-door court complex in 

Yenagoa, the state capital, 

weekend, spent the whole 

time blaming each other for 

the crisis and unrest. 

The two factions, which 

are fighting for supremacy 

in the community, which is 

also host to the state-owned 

Niger Delta University, 

NDU, are loyalists to the 

Amananawei of Ogboin 

Clan, Chief Jones Ere, and 

the Amananaowei of 

Amassoma community, 

Major Graham Naingba 

(retd). 

In his remarks, chairman 

of the commission, Mr 

Michael Zuokumor, 

described the appearance 

of the community’s 

leadership factions and 

their testimonies as 

revealing, saying the 

commission was beginning 

to get to the root of the 

matter. 

He assured that the 

purpose for the setting up 

the commission by the state 

government would be 

justified. 

Idahosa advises politicians 

to eschew bitterness 

By Gabriel 

Enogholase 

B ENIN—PRESIDING 

Archbishop of the 

Church of God International 

Incorporated, Mrs 

Margaret Benson-Idahosa, 

has called on politicians to 

eschew do-or-die politics by 

allowing the wishes of 

Nigerians to prevail in 2019 

general election. 

She urged Nigerians, 

irrespective of party 

affiliation to play politics 

according to the rules and 

embrace peace for God’s will 

to prevail in the country. 

She spoke, weekend, 

during a visit by members 

of the Correspondents 

Chapel of Nigeria Union of 

Journalists, NUJ, Edo State 

Council in commemeration 

of her 75th birthday 

anniversary. 

She said: “We are saying 

to them (politicians) that it 

is not do-or-die. Enough is 

enough. Let us do it the way 

that God wants us to do it. 

There is no reason for killing 

and destruction of property. 

Once a life is gone, it is 

gone. That page is close. 

Death is final. There is 

nothing anyone can do 

about death. 

“As for 2019 general 

election, I believe God has 

put us here and whatever 

we say or desire will come 

to pass. I believe the will of 

God must be done in 

Nigeria. Not the will of the 

enemies, but the will of God. 

God has made us, Nigeria, 

and he put us here and no 

one can eradicate Nigeria." 

It was water tank, not 

Stephen Keshi Stadium, 

that collapsed — Delta govt 

By Festus Ahon 

A SABA—AGAINST 

reports in a section of 

the media that the Stephen 

Keshi Stadium collapsed, the 

Delta State government has 

said it was the water tank 

besides the swimming pool 

inside the stadium that 

collapsed. 

The state's Commissioner 

for Information, Mr Patrick 

Ukah, in a statement, 

yesterday, asked Nigerians, 

especially Deltans, to 

disregard online reports that 

Stephen Keshi Stadium, 

venue of the ongoing African 

Athletics Championship in 

Asaba, collapsed on 

Thursday. 

Noting that the water tank 

“is a distance from the main 

bowl,” he expressed surprise 

that “any sane person can 

write that the stadium 

collapsed whereas the 

venue was full to capacity 

and all activities for the day 

were successfully 

completed.” 

Ukah cautioned those 

involved in writing falsehood 

to desist from such acts, 

adding that it was capable 

of causing panic among 

citizens. 

He said the championship 

continues as scheduled, 

adding: “All relevant 

government agencies have 

long mobilised to the location 

to make an alternative 

arrangement to ensure 

continued supply of water to 

various service points and 

needs on the stadium 

premises.”

14 — VANGUARD, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2018 

Lawmakers petition Buhari 

over insecurity in Kogi 

By Boluwaji Obahopo 

L OKOJA—SERVING 

members of the 

National Assembly from 

Kogi State have petitioned 


Buhari over perceived 

insecurity in the state. 

The petition dated 30th 

July, 2018 was addressed 

to President Muhammadu 

Buhari and jointly signed 

by the three Senators and 

five House of 

Representatives members 

from the state. 

The petitioners are 

Senator Dino Melaye 

(Kogi West), Senator 

Ahmed Ogembe (Kogi 

central) and Senator Atai 

Aidoko (Kogi East), while 

the Reps members are; 

Hon.Tajudeen Yusuf, 

(Kabba/Bunu/Ijumu Fed 

constituency), Hon. 

Benjamin Okolo (Dekina/ 

Bassa Fed constituency), 

Hon. Karimi Sunday, 

(Yagba Fed constituency), 

Hon. Emmanuel Egwu 

(Idah/Ofu/ Igalamela Fed 

constituency) and Hon. 

Omale Hassan (Omala/ 

Ankpa/Olamaboro) 

A copy of the petition 

which was made available 

to newsmen yesterday 

alleged that the Kogi State 

Governor, Yahaya Bello 

had been using state 

resources to import Military 

Hardware illegally for his 

hoodlums who carry out his 

violent instructions. 

But the governor in his 

response through his 

Director General, Media 

and Publicity, Kingsley 

Fanwo, said the Federal 

lawmakers were blinded by 

partisan politics and being 

hunted by their 

constituencies. 

Bello in his response said, 

“Governor Yahaya Bello 

has been the best Governor 

in tackling insecurity in 

Nigeria. For a group of 

CBN Anchor Borrowers: NIRSAL 

to disburse fresh N246m from 

tomorrow ...Creates 1.5 m jobs 

By Emma Ujah 

ABUJA—THE Nigeria 

Incentive-Based 

Risk-Sharing System for 

Agricultural Lending, 

NIRSAL, will commence 

disbursement of over 

N246.5 million to farmers 

under the Anchor 

Borrowers Programme of 

the Central Bank of Nigeria 

(CBN). 

There have been 

allegations by some farmers 

of undue delay in 

disbursement of CBN 

loans by NIRSAL in its 

capacity as a Partnering 

Financial Institution (PFI). 

However, reacting to 

media inquiries over the 

allegations, the Head of 

C o r p o r a t e 

Communications, Ms. 

Anne Ihugba, said 

NIRSAL was committed to 

timely disbursement of 


legislators in the National 

Assembly to allege the 

same Governor is arming 

thugs reflects the fact that 

they are either blinded by 

bitter partisanship or they 

do not know what they are 

saying. 

“In Kogi State, thuggery 

has been blacklisted by the 

present administration. The 

previous administrations in 

the state has a history of 

arming and prodding 

thugs to unleash violence 

on political opponents. 

Political assassinations 

were on the rise and 

opponents of government 

were living in fear until the 

present administration 

came on board to guarantee 

security for all Kogites 

irrespective of their political 

beliefs. 

“We urge the legislators 

to desist from overheating 

the politics of the state with 

their penchant for 

destructive propaganda. 

Anyone who has problems 

with his constituents should 

go and resolve them 

amicably as the state 

Government will 

henceforth not tolerate 

politically schemed 

violence. 

“We also want to reinstate 

the commitment of the 

administration to ensure 

security for all Kogites. 

However, the petition 

reads in part; “The cry has 

become imperative 

because persons holding 

contrary or alternatives 

political views with 

Governor Bello can no 

longer move freely within 

the state, neither can they 

hold political meetings or 

conduct political activities 

such as town hall 

meetings, constituency 

empowerment 

programmes without 

violent interruptions by 

the state government and 

its agents.'' 

funds to applicants. 

She clarified that 

NIRSAL’s practice was to 

“disburse farmers’ funds 

approved by the CBN 

within 5days of receipt of 

Loan Term Sheets from the 

CBN,” once such farmers 

met stipulated loan 

conditions. 

“This is in line with 

NIRSAL’s policy stance to 

always expedite the funds 

access process of all 

applicants who have met 

conditions precedent to 

draw down. 

''NIRSAL observes the 

highest ethical and 

professional standards 

and restated that all 

funds from the CBN are 

disbursed directly into 

farmers’ accounts and 

farmers can access such 

funds once drawdown 

conditions have been 

met.” 

Kano Deputy Gov resigns ahead of 

planned impeachment 

By Abdulmumin 

Murtala with 

agency report 

KANO—THE Deputy 

Governor of Kano 

State, Hafiz Abubakar, has 

resigned his position. 

He is an ally of Rabiu 

Musa Kwankwaso, the 

former governor of the state 

who recently dumped the 


APC, and returned to the 

Peoples Democratic Party, 

PDP. 

His sudden resignation 

may not be unconnected to 

the 

planned 

commencement of 

impeachment process 

against him today by 31 

members of the state house 

of assembly. 

He explained to the 

Governor that he had made 

all efforts by drawing the 

Governor’s attention to 

issues that would avoid 

drifting into the kind of 

unnecessary crises the state 

was facing today but all to 

no avail. 

Prof Abubakar claimed as 

part of his reason for 

resigning that the state 

governor was disrespectful 

of the office of the Deputy 

Governor, as well as 

several injustices against 

him. 

In a letter dated August 5 

and addressed to Abdullahi 

Ganduje, the state 

governor, he said he was 

resigning as a result of 

“irreconcilable differences” 

between them. 

Abubakar also said he has 

made several attempts to 

reconcile the said 

differences but to no avail. 

The letter read: “I regret 

to write and notify you of 

STAR MATCH: From left; Acting head, Marketing and Communications, Stanbic 

IBTC, Bridget Oyefeso-Odusami; Unilag Marines Man of the Match, Robert Odu; 

Executive Director, Stanbic IBTC, Wole Adeniyi and Director, PACE Sports and 

Entertainment Marketing; Sola Fijabi at the HiFL Unilag Marines Vs Uniben Royals 

star match held at the University of Lagos, Akoka.Photo by Akeem Salau. 

my decision to resign my 

position as deputy governor 

of Kano State with effect 

from Saturday 4th August, 

2018. 

“Your Excellency, I would 

have desired to remain up 

to the end of our tenure in 

order to fulfill the 

aspirations and 

expectations of the good 

people of Kano state as 

expressed in their mandate 

given to our joint ticket in 

2015, but with the current 

and persistent 

irreconcilable differences 

on matters relating to 

governance and 

government operations, 

personal opinions, and 

the concept of, and 

respect for, democratic 

ideals and values, it 

would be unfair to my 

conscience, to the good 

people of Kano State and 

to you as the head of the 

government to continue 

to remain in my position 

as the deputy governor 

of Kano State. 

“Your Excellency would 

recall several instances I 

had to draw your attention 

to the need to understand 

and appreciate these 

differences in order to avoid 

drifting into the kind of 

unnecessary crisis we are 

facing today, but to no 

avail.” 

He added that rather than 

heed his counsel, the 

governor’s reaction “was, 

and still is, surprisingly, to 

persecute and mete out all 

sorts of injustices against 

me”. 

Last week, Abubakar had 

raised the alarm over an 

alleged threat to his life. 

APC NWC upturns Shehu Sani’s suspension 

•Kaduna APC defies NWC, insists on his suspension 

By Ben Àgande & 

Omeiza Ajayi 

A National BUJA—THE 

Working 

Committee NWC of the All 

Progressives Congress 

APC has upturned the 

suspension placed on the 

Senator representing 

Kaduna Central, Shehu 

Sani by his ward 

executives. 

The NWC’s decision was 

disclosed in a statement by 

the Acting National 

Publicity Secretary of the 

APC, Yekini Nabena in 

Abuja, saying “The 

National Secretariat has 

received the news of the 

suspension of Senator 

Shehu Sani by the Tudun 

Wada ward Chairman and 

wish to clarify that the 

purported suspension of 

Distinguished Senator 

Shehu Sani representing 

Kaduna Central Senatorial 

District is hereby lifted and 

is confirmed as a bona fide 

member and leader of our 

party. 

“The Chairman Kaduna 

State Chapter has been 

directed to inform the 

relevant Ward and Local 

Government chapters 

appropriately, and also 

put the necessary 

mechanism towards 

complementing the efforts 

of the National leadership 

towards ensuring lasting 

peace and unity in the 

party.” 

But in a swift response, 

Kaduna State Executive 

Council, SEC, of the party 

has rejected the purported 

reinstatement of the senator 

In a statement by Salisu 

Tanko Wusono, Assistant 

Publicity Secretary of the 

party in the state, said the 

state chapter of the party 

“will insist on our 

prerogatives. We will not 

indulge those that have 

betrayed our people”. 

The statement reads in 

part: “The Kaduna State 

APC will not sacrifice its 

cohesion, discipline and 

unity for political 

expediency. We have 

waged a long and 

consistent struggle to 

uphold respect for the Party, 

its constitution, and party 

spirit so that this party can 

grow and fulfil the hopes 

that inspired its formation. 

“Therefore, we affirm the 

indefinite suspension of 

Shehu Sani for serial 

indiscipline and violations 

of the Party Constitution, 

and further clarify that the 

Constitution of our Party 

does not bestow any powers 

on the national 

headquarters to quash the 

decisions of the Ward, 

Local Government and 

State Executive of the Party. 

You cannot join the party at 

your ward level, proceed to 

treat the same party with 

utmost contempt for three 

years, then delude 

yourself into a belief that 

the national headquarters 

can now declare you a 

saint, and impose you on 

the state party!'' 

Saraki, Tambuwal exit from APC 

won’t affect Buhari’s re-election 

— APC SPOKESMAN 

By Omeiza Ajayi 

A BUJA—NEWLYappointed 

Acting 

National Publicity Secretary 

of the All Progressives 

Congress APC, Yekini 

Nabena, has reacted to the 

defection of the Senate 

President, Bukola Saraki, 

Sokoto State Governor 

Aminu Tambuwal and 

others from the party, 

saying it will not affect the 

re-election of President 

Muhammadu Buhari in 

2019. 

Nabena claimed that the 

politicians in question 

lacked the political sagacity 

to affect the goodwill of the 

president in terms of 

grassroots support. 

In a chat with some 

journalists in Abuja, Nabena 

said most of those defecting 

to the opposition Peoples 

Democratic Party PDP were 

feather-weight. 

He said: “I can tell you 

authoritatively that the 

defections will not affect the 

President’s re-election. It is 

public knowledge that 

Saraki’s popularity is limited 

to Kwara. He does not have 

any power to determine 

what happens in Kogi or 

other North Central states 

where the President still 

enjoys substantial support. 

“Please, note that Saraki’s 

popularity is limited to 

Kwara alone.''



Ebonyi gov takes war to Oshiomhole 

...asks APC Chair to stay away from Ebonyi 

•As PDP faults Oshiomhole’s claim on Ebonyi rally 

By Peter Okutu & 

By Dirisu Yakubu 

A BAKALIKI— 

GOVERNOR David 

Umahi of Ebonyi State, 

weekend called on the 

National Chairman of the 


APC, Adams Oshiomhole 

to stay away from Ebonyi 

State with his blackmails 

and undemocratic principle 

in handling the affairs of 

stakeholders in the country. 

The governor stated this 

while reacting to the 

statement credited to 

Oshiomhole, who 

requested Umahi to tender 

an apology for allegedly 

refusing a faction of the 

party in the state to use the 

state stadium for their rally. 

Governor Umahi 

described the statement as 

not just childish, but also 

pure blackmail aimed at 

From Left—Mrs Yetunde Adesola, Astymin School Programme 

Coordinator; Olalekan Hakeem of Lagos SUBEB; Mr Friday Enaholo, 

Marketing Manager, Fidson Healthcare Plc; Mrs Folashade Ladiju, 

representing Deputy Governor of Lagos State; and Layemi Gbenga, 

Divisional Manager, Fidson Healthcare, South, during the 9th Edition 

of Astymin Brilliance Reward ceremony, in Lagos, yesterday. Photo;Joe 

Akintola:Photo Editor. 

Crisis rocks Anglican Church in Abia 

•Members accuse bishop of being polygamist, want him sacked 

By Anayo Okoli 

U SERIOUS MUAHIA— 

crisis is 

rocking Christ Church 

Cathedral, Anglican 

Communion, Akwete, 

Ukwa Diocese in Ukwa 

East Council of Abia State, 

with the parishioners 

demanding the removal of 

the Bishop of the Diocese, 

Rt. Rev. Samuel Kelechi Eze 

for alleged wrongdoings. 

The church members are 

accusing Bishop Eze of 

among other things, 

marrying two wives, 

contrary to the canonical 

oath of the Church for 

clergies and even members 

of the church. 

Specifically, they alleged 

that the Bishop in addition 

to his legal wife known to 

them, is also married to one 

Miss 

Gladys 

Chinazaekpere Nwosu. 

Other allegations border 

scoring public sympathy 

and cheap political points. 

Umahi who spoke 

through his Chief Press 

Secretary, Emmanuel Uzor 

described the statement as 

baseless and one of the 

propaganda of the APC 

which he said had lost 

touch with the masses, 

especially indigenes of 

Ebonyi State. 

“It is very shameful for the 

APC National Chairman, 

Adams Oshiomhole to have 

made the statement 

credited to him while in the 

state. He has disappointed 

Nigerians in his usual 

naked dance when he said 

Governor Umahi denied a 

faction of his party usage 

of the Pa Ngele Oruta 

International Stadium, 

which is undergoing 

reconstruction. 

“It became more childish 

on mal-administration of 

the church, as well as not 

taking proper care of the 

priests working under him 

in the church. 

The matter has 

degenerated to the extent 

that some members of the 

church petitioned the head 

of Anglican Church in 

Nigeria, the Primate, The 

Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, 

against Bishop Eze. 

The members have 

virtually barred the Bishop 

from conducting church 

service or any programme 

in the church and want him 

to vacate his official 

residence in Akwete. 

Also, the laity of Ukwa 

Diocese organized a 

protest against the Bishop, 

demanding his removal 

from the diocese, saying he 

was destroying the church. 

Besides the petition, a 

3-man delegation of the 

Church led by an elder and 

for the national party 

chairman who had earlier 

called Governor Umahi on 

phone and informed him of 

his coming to the state to 

have made such ridiculous 

statement whereas he was 

aware of the decision of a 

faction of his party to shift 

the date for the rally to 11th 

August. 

"Oshiomhole and Umahi 

have shared great 

friendship before this rally 

and as a sitting governor, 

Umahi while in Edo State 

to conduct governorship 

primary election of PDP in 

2014 did not only pay a 

courtesy call on 

Oshiomhole, but had 

personal interaction as 

brothers despite their 

differences in political 

association. This is a pure 

example of political 

maturity exhibited by 

the 18th President 

General of Joint Council of 

Knights, Anglican 

Communion, Chief Okere 

Eruba went to the 

Primate to show the 

seriousness of the crisis. 

But Bishop Eze has 

denied all the allegations, 

describing them as “trash, 

borne out of tribalism and 

selfish desires.” 

Denying the allegations, 

Bishop Eze in a text 

message, said: “This is a 

matter that the head of our 

church, the Primate is 

handling and one that 

could lead to serious 

litigation. 

“Everything they’re 

talking is trash, borne out 

of tribalism and selfish 

desires and masterminded 

by the Archbishop. How 

can a bishop marry two 

wives?” 

Umahi which APC lacks. 

“One would have 

expected Oshiomhole as a 

senior comrade to show 

respect to a sitting governor 

if he was not hypocritical 

in his alleged relationship 

and tolerance for opposition 

but, he decided to fly into 

Abakaliki, enjoyed the 

ambience of a serene 

environment and drove 

round a beautiful city with 

the best road network in the 

country and then mounted 

the podium and started 

spewing his usual political 

blackmail which he has 

been known for. 

“More worrisome is his 

visible silence over the 

factions in his party in the 

state and his inability to fuse 

the divided party into one 

but has descended so low 

to demand apology from a 

sitting governor over a 

stadium that is under 

construction. 

"APC has been rejected by 

Nigerians and Ebonyians 

who have no reason 

whatsoever to identify with 

a political party without 

known direction towards 

the betterment of the 

country. This is what 

Oshiomhole should be 

concerned about and not 

waiting for apology from 

Governor Umahi because 

he will have to wait 

forever.” 

Uzor further maintained 

that APC through its 

national chairman owe 

Nigerians apology for 

misleading the masses and 

destroying the country. 

PDP faults 

Oshiomhole’s 

claim 

Meanwhile, the PDP 

has described as 

hypocritical and 

unpardonable, claims by 

the National Chairman 

of the All Progressives 

Congress, APC, Mr. 

Adams Oshiomhole, that 

there was a clampdown 

on members of his party 

during the APC rally by 

the Ebonyi State 


In a statement signed 

by its National Publicity 

Secretary, Kola 

Ologbondiyan, the party 

accused the former Edo 

State governor of 

spinning ‘tales’ to score 

cheap political points. 

"Oshiomhole has 

turned himself into a 

laughing stock and a 

cartoon character among 

Nigerians due to his 

unabated unguarded 

comments. He has now 

taken to fabrication of 

tales, symptomatic of a 

confused leader seeking 

to score cheap political 

points," PDP said. 

MASSOB berates FG over 

plans to build refinery in Katsina 

...condemns cattle ranches in southern states 

AMovement BAKALIKI—THE 

for the 

Actualisation of the 

Sovereign State of Biafra, 

MASSOB, weekend, 

condemned the President 

Muhammadu Buhari-led 

Federal Government's plan 

to build a modern 

petroleum refinery in his 

home state of Katsina which 

is not listed among the oil 

producing states in the 

country. 

In a statement issued in 

Abakaliki, the leader of 

MASSOB, Comrade 

Uchenna Madu described 

the action of the President 

as insensitive and callous 

and doesn’t promote 

national unity but economic 

marginalisation of other 

zones in the country. 

The statement read in 

part: “Buhari wants to build 

cattle ranch in Edo State, 

which is an oil producing 

state but conversely wants 

to build a refinery in 

Katsina which is a cattle 

rearing state and many 

people are still wondering 

Overland Airways begins flights 

from Lagos to Cotonou, Lome 

By Samson 

Echenim 

NIGERIA’S frontline 

scheduled and 

charter airline, Overland 

Airways at the weekend, 

said it had concluded plans 

to begin flight services from 

Lagos to Cotonou, Republic 

of Benin and Lome, Togo 

Republic, on August 12, 

2018. 

Speaking to journalists on 

the commencement of the 

regional services, the 

airline’s Chief Operating 

Officer, Mrs. Aanu Benson, 

said the Lagos-Cotonou- 

Lome flights would operate 

on Mondays, Tuesdays, 

Thursdays and Sundays. 

She said: “The flights will 

depart Lagos at 7pm, arrive 

Cotonou at 7.25pm, and 

depart Cotonou at 8pm to 

arrive Lome at 8.30pm. 

“Also, flights will depart 

what is wrong with 

Nigeria as a country? 

“This is an open evidence 

of sadism and wickedness 

which always exposes 

Nigeria as a state of 

injustices and inequalities 

where marginalisation, 

deprivations and 

subjections of Biafrans and 

Christians are highly 

promoted. 

“For these reasons, true 

nationhood has remained 

stillborn, peace has 

remained elusive and 

Nigeria has remained in 

perpetual strife and ever 

increasing crisis since her 

founding. 

“These undeniable 

realities are the reason the 

Nigerian state is afraid of 

Biafra and her agitators 

because we speak of a truth 

they cannot legitimately 

counter. We speak of a truth 

they know they are guilty 

of, so out of weakness and 

fear, they resort to 

repression, persecution 

detention and killings." 

4 arrested for defrauding 

Anambra of N17m 

By Vincent Ujumadu 

AWKA—FOUR persons 

who have allegedly 

been impersonating the 

Anambra State 

Commissioner of Police, the 

Naval Commander in the 

state and the state 


Commerce and Industry in 

the various markets in 

Ogbaru local government 

area close to the commercial 

town of Onitsha, have been 

arrested by the police. 

At the last count, they 

were said to have 

defrauded the state N17 

million and claimed to 

have bribed the state 


Commerce and Industry, 

Dr. Christian Madubuko 

with N4 million. 

Leader of the fraudsters, 

Mr. Chike Ezeani, who 

hailed from Uzuiyi in Ideato 

North Local Government 

Area of Imo State claimed 

that the fake authorization 

papers were given to him 

by one Okenwa who, he 

said, told him that he was 

the personal assistant to the 


commerce and industry. 

According to Ezeani, the 

fake papers bore forged 

signatures and stamps of 

the state Commissioner of 

Police and the head of the 

Naval Base in Anambra 

State. 

Another suspect, Mr. 

Nwachukwu Ugonabo, 

who also hailed from Imo 

State, said he was lured into 

the deal by Ezeani,. 

Lome at 9pm to arrive in 

Lagos at 9.45pm. The 

commencement of 

regional scheduled flight 

services marks the take-off 

of Overland Airways’ drive 

to participate actively in 

regional socio-economic 

activities and integration. 

West Africa is our territory 

and August, 12, 2018 marks 

the beginning of our 

domestic West Africa 

operations. 

“Overland Airways 

operations to Cotonou and 

Lome are to offer choices to 

customers as our 

contribution to regional 

integration in West Africa. 

We want air travellers in 

the region to team up and 

discover each other while 

enjoying the excellent 

services we offer. It is an 

expression of Nigeria’s 

aviation renaissance in West 

Africa.”



VISIT: From Left—Mr Victor Olannye, Executive Secretary, Risk Management Association of 

Nigeria, RIMAN; Mr Kola Ajimoko, 1st Vice President, RIMAN; Dr Uche Olowu, Council 

President, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, CIBN; Mr Magnus Nnoka, President, 

RIMAN; Mr Bayo Olugbemi, 1st Vice President, CIBN; Mrs Grace Ademola, Treasurer, RIMAN; 

Mr Seye Awojobi, Registrar, CIBN; and Mr Joshua Uwedinisu, RIMAN Ex-Officio, during a 

courtesy visit by RIMAN Executive Council to CIBN, In Lagos 

SEMINAR: From left—Mr. Kayode Falowo, Chairman, GTL Trustees/GMD Greenwich Trust 

Ltd; Ms. Mary Uduk, Ag. DG, Securities & Exchange Commission; Mr. Babatunde Fowler, 

Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Services, FIRS; and Mrs. Omobola Makinde, Managing 

Director;, GTL Trustees Ltd., at the GTL Trustees Thought Leadership Roundtable series 2018, 

theme: ”Tax: An Old Wave on a New Shore,” held in Lagos. 

VISIT: Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (middle) and Chairman, 

Emancipation Support Committee of Trinidad and Tobago, ESCTT, Mr. Khafra Kambon, 

displaying a crest and logo of Osun State, while the Chairman's wife, Asha, appreciates a 

wood carving by Osun Carver, during the governor's visit to Trinidad and Tobago for 

celebration at 2018 Emancipation Day, at the Yoruba Square in Port of Spain, weekend. 

Entrepreneurship: Osinbajo, 

Ambode flag off Lagos 

MSMEs’ clinic today 

By Olasunkamnmi 

Akoni 

VICE President, Prof. 

Yemi Osinbajo and 

Lagos State Governor 

Akinwunmi Ambode are 

expected to lead other 

dignitaries today for the 

inauguration of the Micro, 

Small and Medium 

Enterprises, MSMEs, 

Clinic in Lagos. 

State’s Commissioner for 

Commerce, Industry and 

Cooperatives, Mrs. 

Olayinka Oladunjoye, who 

disclosed this, yesterday, 

said the two-day event, 

billed to commence today 

at Teslim Balogun 

Stadium, Surulere, was an 

initiative of the Office of the 

Vice President in 

partnership with the 

Federal Ministry of 

Industry, Trade and 

Investment, as well as 11 

other federal agencies. 

The commissioner gave 

the assurance to the public 

that adequate preparations 

had been put in place to 

ensure the success of the 

programme. 

According to her, “The 

event will further 

complement the efforts of 

the State Government 

aimed at developing 

MSMEs in the state. The 

administration of Mr. 

Akinwunmi Ambode will 

continue to implement 

policies that would favour 

the growth of the sector. 

“As it is evident to all, the 

present administration in 

Lagos State is leaving no 

stone unturned to ensure 

even development of all 

sectors and the MSMEs’ 

Clinic will never be an 

exemption.” 

She expressed confidence 

that the programme would 

go a long way in raising a 

new set of entrepreneurs 

while the existing ones 

would be guided on the 

best steps to take to add 

value to their efforts. 

China lauds diplomatic relations 

with Nigeria yielded fruitful 

Elizabeth 

Uwandu 

C ONSULAR- 

GENERAL in 

Lagos, Chinese Embassy, 

Chao Xiaoliang has 

expressed satisfaction at the 

relationship between 

Nigeria and China as this 

year marks 47th 

anniversary of the two 

countries’ diplomatic 

relations which according 

to him has culminated into 

the trade volume accruing 

to $14 billion between the 

two nations as at 2017. 

He said this yesterday at 

the opening ceremony of 

Chinese language training 

programme for Nigerian 

Immigration officials held at 

University of Lagos. 

Xiaoliang lauded the 

joint efforts of the two 

countries, which have 

achievements from friendly 

and mutually beneficial cooperation 

in all fields. 

According to him, more 

and more investment from 

China come to Nigeria 

while exchange between 

the two countries becomes 

more frequent. 

He remarked that 

Nigerian Immigration 

Service issued more than 

14,000 visas to Chinese 

citizens, which recorded 

the third among all the 

foreign countries. 

“This Chinese language 

training programme is 

aiming to teach Nigerian 

immigration officials some 

daily expressions of 

Chinese language, in 

order to improve the 

communication between 

Chinese citizens and 

Nigerian immigration 

officials," he said. 

Disquiet over failure of FCC 

chairman to vacate office 

By Charles 

Kumolu 

INDICATIONS have 

emerged that there is 

apprehension at the 

headquarters of the 

Federal Character 

Commission, FCC, over 

the alleged failure of the 

acting Executive Chairman 

of the commission, Dr. 

Shettima Abba to vacate 

office after the expiration of 

his tenure. 

Abba, a Federal 

Commissioner, took over as 

acting chairman in January 

2016, for a two-year term 

and his tenure ended on 

July 31, 2018. 

But sources in the 

commission told Vanguard 

that he has refused to 

vacate office. 

The action was gathered 

to have resulted in disquiet 

among commissioners and 

staff of the commission. 

It was expected on July 

31, 2018, that he would 

have handed over to the 

most senior commissioner 

as directed by the Secretary 

to the Government of the 

Federation via a circular 

SGF.50/S.11/C.2/268, 

entitled: ‘End of Tenure 

Processes for Heads of 

Extra-Ministerial 

Departments, Directors 

General, Chief Executive 

Officers of Parastatals, 

Agencies, Commissions 

and Government-owned 

Companies and Succession 

Guideline.’

Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2018 — 17


A NUMBER of extraordinary steps 

are required to be taken if the funds 

for the conduct of the 2019 general 

elections are to be procured. The 

Executive and Legislative arms of the 

Federal Government have not done 

the right things to enable the 

Independent National Electoral 

Commission, INEC, and other 

agencies concerned with delivering the 

general elections, get the necessary 

funds for this challenging assignment. 

Apart from the astronomical rise in 

the cost of conducting the impending 

elections compared to 2015, the 

request for funds from the National 

Assembly is not only coming late, its 

source of funding is rather 

complicated in view of the near-war 

relationship between the Presidency 

and the leadership of the National 

Assembly. 

INEC, in its Report of the 2015 

elections which it released to the 

media on October 5, 2016, stated that 

Funding and the 2019 general elections 

it spent the sum of N108.8 billion to 

conduct the general elections. Now, 

President Muhammadu Buhari has 

just tabled a request for the whopping 

sum of N242 billion for the 2019 

general polls for the INEC and other 

agencies. That is nearly a 150 per cent 

increase. 

To make matters worse, the 

President is demanding that the sum 

of N164 billion be vired from the N578 

billion which the legislators had 

introduced into the 2018 budget to 

execute 6,403 projects. In other 

words, the President is asking the 

lawmakers to sacrifice projects aimed 

at giving them relevance in their 

constituencies for the 2019 elections. 

Furthermore, the remaining N74 

billion is to come from the 2019 

budget which is yet to be prepared. 

With the frosty relationship between 

the Presidency and the Federal 

parliamentarians, worsened by the 

gale of defections and fear of an 

alleged scheme to cause a regime 

change at the National Assembly, we 

fear that the efforts to appropriate 

funds for the conduct of the 2019 

general elections have been mired in 

conflict. 

We wonder why the funds for the 

2019 general elections were not 

included in the 2018 Appropriation 

Bill submitted to the National 

Assembly last year. Did we not know 

there would be a general election in 

2019? If the right thing had been done 

at the right time, the fund for the 

elections would have been 

appropriated with the 2018 budget. 

The only way forward is for the 

Presidency and the leadership of the 

National Assembly to put aside their 

partisan and selfish differences, close 

ranks and tackle this and other 

national issues together. The 2019 

election must hold, and funds for it 

must be procured due process. The 

President should provide leadership 

in this direction. 

The National Assembly, on the other 

hand, must be ready to suspend its 

two-month annual recess to tackle this 

problem expeditiously. It should also 

examine the sharp rise in the election 

bill and deal with it accordingly. 

By Austin Bonny 

THE next eight months promise to be 

filled with frenetic activities for all 

public office holders, and their support 

bases. This is to be expected, as the global 

experience of the year preceding an election 

year is usually characterised by such frenzy. 

In other words, or in mathematical terms, 

2018 equals 2019. Consequently, 

calculations and permutations of political 

possibilities now occupy the public 

consciousness - everyone wants to make the 

right and winning moves. 

Looking back to how we got here, a lot 

has happened already in the past 19 years 

of the adventure of the Fourth Republic. 

Clearly, the evidence on ground has shown 

that ours is a nascent democracy and we 

still have a long way to go. From the May 

29 handover in 1999 till date, it has been a 

mixed fortune for the fledgling democracy, 

with the positives and negatives fighting for 

prominence in the scale of things. While it is 

obvious that we could have fared better, 

there’s just as much to gain from the 

negatives as well as the dividends of 

democracy delivered so far. Mistakes have 

been made, traitors and self-serving bigots 

have shown their hands, the people have 

learnt bitter lessons. With particular 

reference to the federal setting, all of these 

experiences are even more relevant to the 

future because, in the words our elders, the 

people have now carried oil and water and 

know which is heavier. 

What remains is how the fallout of such 

experiences will play out in 2019. This is the 

basis of this prognosis, to draw informed 

conclusions from the events of the day, 

mirror them against past antecedents and 

make calculated suggestions on fruitful 

alignments for our own people. No one 

knows it all, therefore I will welcome any 

OPINION 

2019 presidential election: A prognosis of 

regional body languages and alignments 

debate or critique of my eventual position 

or conclusions. 

A history of sentimental voting patterns 

The 2015 presidential election was 

decided purely by religious and tribal 

sentiments. While many pro-President 

Buhari analysts will point to poor 

As the 2019 general 

elections approach, perhaps 

we will have a situation 

where the eventual ruling 

party will be decided more 

by performance than tribal, 

religious or other primordial 

sentiments 

performance of the Goodluck Ebele 

Jonathan administration, and that of the 

PDP administration before him, the results 

of that election told a different story. Clearly, 

the South-South didn’t care about GEJ’s 

acclaimed poor performance as they went 

all in for him. Same with the Eastern region. 

This is despite widespread accusations that 

the man didn’t deliver any tangible projects 

to these regions. Still, they voted for him 

enmasse. 

Now, while the South-South and South- 

East found it convenient to follow GEJ based 

on the na our person sentiment, the North 

which benefitted more in terms of 

developmental projects and political 

appointmens still went ahead to queue 

behind PMB for same reasons, with Kano 

delivering the decisive numbers to push the 

‘born to rule’ agenda. The key swing states 

were not thinking of performance as much 

as they did religious and tribal sentiments. 

Politics being a game of numbers, it meant 

that GEJ needed the South-West to shore up 

the difference between PMB’s northern 

strongholds and the numbers he could 

galvanise from his own south. Failure to do 

so meant he lost the presidency and the 

majority which the PDP had enjoyed for 16 

years to the APC. 

The only presidential elections that have 

defied these sentimental voting patterns, 

Abiola’s June 12, 1993 and GEJ’s 2011 ride 

to power, were later to be annulled or made 

ungovernable by the elements that would 

love to perpetuate the status quo. 

Sentiments versus Performance 

As the 2019 general elections approach, 

perhaps we will have a situation where the 

eventual ruling party will be decided more 

by performance than tribal, religious or 

other primordial sentiments. While the basis 

of comparison between the two main 

parties, the APC and the PDP, is still 

unbalanced in terms of length of tenure, the 

masses now have a taste of both puddings. 

Without any doubt, it’s certain the electorate 

now have a better idea of which party to 

entrust their future in their hands. It is 

against the backdrop of such comparisons 

therefore that we will make valid inferences 

from the body language of the different 

geopolitical enclaves. 

Body Language of the regions 

Just as it was in 2015, the body language 

of the regions today sends a strong signal of 

what to expect in the 2019 presidential 

election. While there’s no clear-cut 

opposition candidate on ground just yet, all 

pointers indicate where each region would 

go when it comes to deciding who occupies 

the highest public office of the land and gets 

entrusted with the management of the 

fortunes of the land for the next four years. 

Below are my thoughts on where each 

region will go and the key influencers of 

such directions. 

South-South and South-East 

- Tribal sentiments 

The events of the last three years alone are 

enough indicators that the South-East and 

South-South are decidedly going to support 

anyone other than PMB, and rightly so. The 

handling of IPOB which eventually led to 

the harmless organisation being declared a 

terrorist organisation while killer herdsmen 

have been more or less pampered and 

protected by the state, is enough reason to 

garner protest votes against the incumbent 

by the people of these two regions. While the 

gross underperformance of the present 

administration will play a vital role in the 

elections, it is the manhandling of the Igbos 

and the Biafra cause that will play the bigger 

role in the level of participation to oust the 

incumbent president and party. This position 

is further strengthened by the tendency of 

the main opposition, the PDP, to field a 

candidate of the northern extraction in the 

spirit of zoning. The expectation is that more 

people from these regions will be coming 

out to vote this time around. 

The North - Performance and Loyalty 

Close to the 2015 elections, it became clear 

that the North regretted succumbing to the 

bandwagon of the sentimental storm which 

saw GEJ getting a fair share of the spoils of 

battle in that region and successfully 

dividing votes in the stronghold of his 

principal opponent, Buhari, in 2011. 

Continues tomorrow on the Viewpoint page 

•Mr. Bonny, a public affairs 

commentator, wrote from Lagos.

Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2018 — 19 

Cost of funds declines as N452bn inflow aggravates excess liquidity 

*Naira depreciates as external reserves continue downward trend 

By Babajide Komolafe 

THE downward trend in 

interbank interest rates will 

persist this week, as inflow of N452 

billion aggravates the prevailing 

excess liquidity in the interbank money 

market. 

Last week, efforts by the Central Bank 

of Nigeria, CBN, to mop up excess 

liquidity in the interbank market via 

N600 billion Open Market Operation 

(OMO), treasury bills (TBs) offer 

proved ineffective, as the offer 

recorded 50 percent patronage of N300 

billion. 

This was in addition to N216 billion 

worth of fresh TBs sold by the CBN in 

a primary market auction, and resulted 

into outflow of N579 billion from the 

market. The effect of the outflow was, 

however, subdued by inflow of N899 

billion comprising N360 billion inflow 

from statutory allocation funds to the 

three tiers of government, and N539 

billion inflow from matured OMO 

bills. 

As a result, interbank interest rates 

fell for the second consecutive weeks, 

with interest rate on Collateralised 

(Open Buy Back, OBB) lending 

falling by 250 basis points (bpts) to 

4.33 percent last week from 6.83 

percent the previous week. Similarly, 

interest rate on Overnight lending 

dropped by 190 bpts to 5.33 percent 

last week from 7.25 percent the 

previous week. 

Continues on page 21 

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2018 

New insurance industry policy 

sidelines 40 companies 

•As 9 get set for tier-1 lisence class 

By Rosemary Onuoha 

EXCEPT the National Insurance 

Commission, NAICOM, 

approves new insurance licenses, 

only nine insurance companies in 

Nigeria would be allowed to 

underwrite big ticket policies by next 

year, under the Tier-Based Minimum 

Solvency Capital, TBMSC, structure. 

Industry analysts believe this 

development puts 40 other operators 

in competitive sidelines based on the 

criteria for the top-class underwriting 

category. 

The TBMSC is expected to have 

recognised the nine companies as tier- 

1 underwriters for the purpose of big 

ticket risks such as oil and gas, 

aviation as well as annuity. 

investors would not invest because of 

the market risks associated with 

electoral uncertainties. 

Accordingly, these operators are of 

the opinion that NAICOM’s January 

1, 2019 commencement date for the 

TBMSC implementation is ill-timed. 

NAICOM had said that from the said 

Continues on page 20 

Interested 

investors 

Although NAICOM has said that it 

will open up licencing window to 

interested investors at tier-1 level, 

some operators that currently fall 

under tier-2 and three levels are 

worried that the upcoming general 

elections next year could deprive them 

the opportunity to beef up their capital 

to the target tier-1 level as investors 

from the political class are focused on 

the elections, while other major 

Investors Insurance 

Forum 

News 

DBN has achieved milestone in Mixed reactions to trail equity States need political will to 

MSMEs funding through LAPO market as investors lose N61bn adopt CPS — Etaduovie 

— Okpanachi 

in 5 days 

22 24 

28 

C 

M 

Y 

K


FINANCIAL VANGUARD 

New insurance industry policy sidelines 40 companies 

Continued from page 19 

date, insurance companies 

will be categorized into tiers 

based on their 2017 financial 

positions. 

The TBMSC structure is a 

complementary measure to 

the ongoing implementation 

of the Risk-Based 

Supervision, RBS, 

programme. It is a three level 

model which specifies capital 

requirement for each tier 

based on their respective risk 

classification. 

Tier-3 of the TBMSC 

stipulates that companies will 

operate on the existing 

minimum paid up capital of 

N2 billion for life, N3 billion 

for non-life and N5 billion for 

composite underwriters. Life 

companies will only be 

permitted to underwrite 

individual life policy, health 

insurance, and miscellaneous 

insurances. 

Non-life companies will only 

underwrite fire, motor, 

engineering (only classes 

covered by compulsory 

insurance), general accident, 

agriculture and miscellaneous 

insurances. 

Composite 

company 

To operate in tier-2 of the 

TBMSC, companies must 

have 50 percent additional on 

the capital base. Life 

companies must have N3 

billion capital base and will 

underwrite all tier-3 risks and 

group life assurance. 

Non-life companies must 

have N4.5 billion and will 

underwrite all tier-3 risks, as 

well as engineering (all 

inclusive), marine, bonds 

credit guarantee and 

suretyship insurances. 

For tier-1 players, 

companies must have 200 

percent additional on the 

capital base. While life 

companies must have N6 

billion capital base and will 

underwrite all tier-2 risks and 

annuity, non-life companies 

must have N9 billion capital 

base and will underwrite all 

tier-2 risks, as well as oil & 

gas, (oil related projects, 

exploration & production) and 

aviation insurances. 

In essence any composite 

company, that is life and nonlife, 

that wants to be in tier-1 

must have N15 billion, tier-2 

must have N7.5 billion while 

tier-3 must have N5 billion. 

Companies’ position 

Analysis of 2017 financial 

reports of companies show 

that firms that could fall under 

the tier-1 composite category 

are Leadway Assurance 

Company Limited with 

shareholders funds of N52.4 

billion; Custodian and Allied 

with shareholders funds of 

N35.4 billion; Axa Mansard 

with shareholders funds of 

•Mohammed Kari, Commissioner for Insurance 

N20.3 billion; Wapic 

Insurance with N17.9 billion; 

as well as Zenith Insurance 

with N23.5 billion. 

Under the tier-1 category for 

non-life business, companies 

that could fall under it are 

Linkage Assurance with 

N19.9 billion; Universal 


as well as Nem Insurance 


Companies that could fall 

under the tier-2 composite 

category are Aiico insurance 

with N10.5 billion; NSIA 


Lasaco Assurance with N8.2 

billion; Mutual Benefits 

Assurance with N8.1 billion; 

as well as Niger insurance 


Non-life 

category 

Under the tier-2 non-life 

category, companies that 

could fall under it are Prestige 

Assurance with N7.5 billion; 

Consolidated Hallmark with 

N4.7 billion; Law Union & 

Rock with N6.5 billion; Saham 

Unitrust with N7.8 billion; 

Sovereign Trust with N5.5 

billion; as well as Regency 

Alliance with N5.2 billion. 

For the tier-3 composite 

category, the companies that 

could fall under it are Great 

Nigeria Insurance with N5.9 

billion; as well as Royal 

Exchange with N5.6 billion. 

Companies that could fall 

under tier-3 non-life category 

are Sunu Assurance with N4.3 

billion; as well as Guinea 

Insurance with N3.0 billion. 

Arm Life as well as 

Metropolitan Life companies 

that underwrite life 

businesses, both fall into tier- 

2 category with N3.2 billion; 

and N4.1 billion respectively. 

NAICOM’s position 

NAICOM, the regulatory 

body of insurance practice in 

the country said that the 

industry, by unanimous 

consensus, agreed to a 

desirable recapitalization at 

the Insurers Committee 

Retreat held on February 15 - 

16, 2018 in Abeokuta. 

Companies shall be 

assessed in the first 

instance on their 

approved financial 

statements for 

2017. All 

companies shall be 

assessed and 

graded to the 

equivalent tier that 

its capital can 

accommodate 

According to NAICOM, the 

new recapitalization became 

necessary due to the effect of 

2008 global financial crisis 

and recent economic recession 

in Nigeria on insurers, 

coupled with the inability of 

some insurers to honour 

contractual commitments they 

•Rotimi Edu, Vice President, NCRIB 

have made to the insured and 

other stakeholders. Improper 

capital structures, according 

to the regulator, can lead to 

the extinction of the insurance 

industry, hence the need for 

restructuring of capital 

resources for improved 

liquidity and claims 

settlement. 

NAICOM has, however, 

promised not to compel 

insurance firms to inject fresh 

capital neither would there be 

cancellation of licence of any 

operator on the account of the 

implementation of the new 

rule. But the Commission 

insists that companies will be 

subjected to solvency control 

levels. 

NAICOM stated, 

“Companies shall be assessed 

in the first instance on their 

approved financial statements 

for 2017. All companies shall 

be assessed and graded to the 

equivalent tier that its capital 

can accommodate. 

Subsequently, request for 

change of tier-level shall be 

subject to the filing of an 

application, and approval by 

NAICOM, on satisfactory 

fulfilment of set conditions.” 

Stakeholders’ 

reaction 

Reacting to the 

development, stakeholders 

are of the opinion that the 

regulator should exercise 

caution in the implementation 

of the TBMSC structure. 

Vice President of the 

Nigerian Council of 

Registered Insurance 

Brokers, Mr. Rotimu Edu said 

“It is good for the industry to 

be recapitalized but a note of 

caution should be taken in the 

administration of the tier 

system else the small 

companies may go under. 

“With the tier based 

recapitalization system, small 

companies may not be able to 

participate in private or 

government businesses that 

may enable them to survive or 

grow. Government businesses 

or mega accounts should also 

be made available to small 

companies or NAICOM 

should have a way of 

providing guidelines for 

supporting the smaller 

companies with government 

and mega businesses for 

growth and industry 

capacity.” 

Speaking on the condition of 

anonymity, a Managing 

Director of one of the tier-2 

companies said that the 

window period given for 

companies that want to move 

to higher tier is short. 

He stated: “We have been 

given a five months window 

period between now and 

January to recapitalize. 

However, the period of grace 

is short. Recall that the first 

round of recapitalization in 

2007 took some companies 

over a year to meet up. Over 

the course of the years, there 

are some companies whose 

share capital have depleted 

below the N3 billion minimum 

base capital. 

“From January next year, we 

will be preparing for another 

election, so I believe that this 

is ill-timed. So many people 

are thinking of what will be 

the outcome of 2019 election, 

so whatever money is in the 

coffers of politicians, will be 

channelled into the 

electioneering process. Also, 

other prospective investors 

may not be thinking of 

investment for now until the 

economy stabilizes after the 

election.”

FINANCIAL 


Cost of funds declines as N452bn inflow aggravates excess liquidity 

C 

M 

Y 

K 

Continues from page 19 

This week, the inflow 

of N452 billion from 

maturing OMO bills is 

expected to sustain the 

level of liquidity in the 

market and hence 

further moderation in 

cost of funds. 

“This week, T-bills 

worth N452 billion will 

mature via the secondary 

market; hence, we 

expect relative ease in 

the financial system 

liquidity with resultant 

moderation in interbank 

rates”, said analysts at 

Lagos based Cowry 

Asset Management 

Limited. 

Naira depreciates as 

external reserves 

decline persist 

The naira, last week, 

depreciated for the 

second consecutive week 

in the Investors and 

Exporters (I&E) window 

while the volume of 

dollars traded fell by 5.4 

percent. Data from 

FMDQ showed that the 

indicative exchange rate 

of the window rose to 

N362.67 per dollar last 

week from N362.28 per 

dollar the previous 

week, translating to 39 

kobo depreciation. 

Financial Vanguard 

analysis also showed that 

the volume of dollars 

traded fell by 5.4 percent 

to $860.22 million last 

week from $909.45 

million the previous 

week. The naira, 

however, remained 

stable at N358.3 per 

dollar in the parallel 

market last week, while 

the CBN sustained its 

weekly foreign exchange 

sale of $210 million in 

the interbank foreign 

exchange market. 

External reserves 

drop further 

Meanwhile the 

downward trend in the 

This week, T- 

bills worth N452 

billion will 

mature via the 

secondary 

market; hence, 

we expect 

relative ease in 

the financial 

system liquidity 

with resultant 

moderation in 

interbank rates 

nation’s external 

reserves persisted last 

week, as the reserves 

fell to $47.069 

billion, Thursday last 

week from $47.268 

million Thursday the 

previous week, 

representing a weekly 

decline of $199 million 

and the fourth 

consecutively weekly 

decline. 

Financial Vanguard 

analysis revealed that 

the reserves have been 

falling since Thursday 

July 5 when it peaked at 

$47.798 million. Since 

then the reserves have 

declined by $729 million 

or 1.5 percent, 

occasioned by increased 

foreign exchange 

intervention by the CBN 

in its bid to forestall 

depreciation of the naira 

in the face of increased 

dollar demand by foreign 

portfolio investors 

exiting the nation’s debt 

market. 

This trend, according 

to the Managing 

Director/Chief 

Executive, Financial 

Derivatives Limited, Mr. 

Bismarck Rewane will 

persist till the end of the 

year. 

Speaking last week at 

the Lagos Business 

School (LBS) Executive 

breakfast meeting, 

Rewane projected that 

the external reserves 

may fall to $30 billion by 

end of the year, if the 

pressure in the foreign 

exchange market 

persists. 

“Realistically expect 

reserves to drop to $30 

billion under pressure”, 

he said.



DBN has achieved milestone in MSMEs funding 

through LAPO — Okpanachi 

By Emma Ujah, 

Abuja Bureau Chief 

MANAGING Director/ 

Chief Executive, 

Development Bank of Nigeria, 

DBN, Mr. Tony Okpanachi, has 

said that the bank, through its 

partnership with LAPO Micro 

Finance Bank, has achieved a 

milestone in funding of Micro 

Small and Medium 

Enterprises, MSMEs, in the 

country. He stated this while 

commenting on the 

bank’s extension of credit to 

10,000 MSMEs, through 

LAPO. 

He said, “This is a milestone 

achievement and I am 

particularly happy that we are 

getting a lot of traction on our 

lending activities with LAPO. 

The collaboration is 

encouraging because LAPO 

was among the first three 

microfinance banks we 

commenced our initial pilot 

lending with in November 

2017. I must commend the 

management team for keying 

into our business model and I 

strongly believe we can work 

together to alleviate the 

financial constraints faced by 

MSMEs”. 

On LAPO’s commitment to 

the development of MSMEs in 

Nigeria, the Managing 

Director/Chief Executive, 

Godwin Ehigiamusoe said, 

“We strongly believe in the 

capacity and potentials of the 

MSMEs in alleviating poverty 

and creating jobs for our 

growing population. We are 

happy with the partnership 

and we will continue to work 

with DBN to ensure that 

collectively, we are able to 

provide the much-needed 

funding that the MSMEs 

require flourishing.” 

From left: Best Student, Stream 41, Skye Graduate Intensive Training, Mr. Prince Emmanuel; 

Directorate Head, South, Skye Bank Plc, Dr. Ayo Abina; Best Student, Stream 42, Miss Pamela 

Chikezie; and Head, Human Capital Management, Skye Bank Plc, Mr. Taiwo Olupeka, at the 

Skye Bank Business School graduation in Ibadan. 

According to the 

International Finance 

Corporations (IFC) MSME 

Finance Gap Report in 2017, 

there are over 37 million 

MSMEs contributing to over 

50 percent of Nigeria’s GDP. 

HERITAGE Bank Plc has 

successfully attained 

recertification of the Payment 

Card Industry Data Security 

Standard (PCI DSS) version 3.2, 

having achieved the 

International Organisation for 

Standardisation ISO 

27001:2013 recertification 

recently. 

With its legacy of innovation, 

the recertification reaffirms the 

bank’s leading position in the 

However, less than five percent 

of these businesses have 

access to credit in the financial 

system. DBN’s entrance and 

its interventions are therefore, 

relevant and timely. They will 

reverse this trend by making 

it easier for MSMEs to access 

financing to build and expand 

their businesses and unleash 

the power of the MSME 

business segment to drive 

national economic 

development. 

Heritage Bank achieves PCI DSS Version 3.2 

recertification 

Fidelity Bank partners with WorldRemit 

on instant money transfers 

WORLDRemit, a digital 

money transfer service, 

has joined forces with Fidelity 

Bank, for instant money transfers 

to four million Fidelity Bank 

accounts in Nigeria. 

The new partnership further 

expands WorldRemit’s footprint 

in the country and allows the 15 

million-strong Nigerian 

diaspora living in over 50 

countries to send money directly 

from their phones to recipients 

in Nigeria. The deal supports 

WorldRemit’s plan to serve 10 

million customers connected to 

Firstbank launches chatbanking 

on Whatsapp 

FIRSTBank has 

announced the launch of 

chat banking service on 

WhatsApp. 

The bank, in a statement, 

said: “FirstBank customers can 

leverage the real-time 

messaging capabilities of the 

WhatsApp Business solution 

to check their account 

balances as well as perform 

simple banking queries. 

“The solution is in its pilot 

phase and is available to a 

select group of customers, 

after which it will be made 

available to all customers. 

Additional details on the 

solution would be provided in 

the coming weeks as 

customers are encouraged to 

keep interacting with the bank 

on its various social media 

channels for updates.” 

payment card industry in 

Nigeria, as first to issue a 

transparent Mastercard debit 

card in sub-Saharan Africa and 

pioneered the mPOS in 

response to the CBN Cash-less 

initiative. 

A statement signed by the 

Divisional Head, Corporate 

Communications of the bank, 

Fela Ibidapo, explained that the 

PCI DSS is a proprietary 

information security standard 

emerging markets by 2020. 

Commenting, Andrew 

Stewart, Regional Director of 

Africa and the Middle East at 

WorldRemit, said: “Nigeria 

remains our largest and fastest 

growing market in Africa, and 

WorldRemit’s second biggest 

market globally. We are 

delighted to be partnering with 

Fidelity, a leading bank in 

Nigeria and a major player in 

the remittance business, to 

introduce its customers to our 

best in class online money 

transfer service, which offers a 

safer, faster and more costeffective 

way to send and 

receive funds.” 

Mr Nnamdi Okonkwo, 

Managing Director and Chief 

Executive Officer at Fidelity 

Bank Plc, said “WorldRemit 

offers a low-cost way to send and 

receive money.” 

for organizations that process, 

store, transmit or access 

cardholder information for 

major debit, credit, prepaid, e- 

purse, ATM and POS cards. 

Speaking on the award of the 

PCI DSS’ certification, 

Managing Director/Chief 

Executive of the bank, Ifie 

Sekibo, said it was a strong 

indicator that Heritage Bank 

consistently has its customers’ 

interest at the core of its 

business operations, is 

committed to appropriately 

protect customers’ information 

as well as maintaining a safe 

and secure environment for 

customer transactions. 

He noted that banking is a 

business of risks management, 

from assets to data, adding that 

it is fundamental that whatever 

a customer keeps in a bank is in 

safe custody. “We are a service 

company providing banking 

service; and we are the best in 

the class of security of our 

information systems. It means 

funds kept with us are safe.” 

FBNQuest seek 

partnership with 

Diaspora 

Nigerians for 

economic devt 

FBNQuest 

Asset 

Management, a part of 

the FBN Holdings Plc group, 

has expressed its desire for 

partnerships that will unlock 

the potentials of Nigerians in 

Diaspora as a source of 

economic development. 

Managing Director, 

FBNQuest 

Asset 

Management, Mr. Ike Onyia, 

disclosed this while speaking 

at the just concluded 

Nigerians in Diaspora 

(NIDOA) Global Development 

conference in London. 

The conference which was 

co-sponsored by FBNQuest, 

presented an opportunity for 

Nigerians in the Diaspora to 

engage in constructive and 

interactive sessions with key 

decision makers across 

different industries in Nigeria, 

encouraging stakeholders to 

partner and collaborate on 

investment schemes. 

The conference yielded 

fruitful discourse and 

exchange of ideas that 

examined the intersections 

between investment in human 

capital, natural resources, 

entrepreneurship, innovation 

and technology in Nigeria. 

Speaking at the conference, 

Onyia called on Nigerians in 

Diaspora to offer strategic 

expertise in their various 

endeavours to impact the 

country with knowledge and 

financial capacity, especially 

by way of investment. 

He said: “We want to partner 

with the Diaspora community 

through NIDO and its 

members. As a member of one 

of the leading financial 

services groups in Africa, we 

are well-positioned to serve the 

diaspora community 

professionally and to ensure 

their aspirations in the area of 

maximising investment 

returns are fulfilled. 

“FBNQuest Asset 

Management is open to 

partnerships that will unlock 

the potential of the Nigerian 

diaspora community as a 

source of economic 

development. We provide 

bespoke solutions to 

organizations and individual 

investors looking to set up 

structure that can help them 

achieve their investment 

goals.” 

Union Bank partners with TEDxLagos 

U 

NION Bank of Nigeria 

Plc, has announced its 

partnership with TEDxLagos for 

the upcoming TEDxLagos event 

scheduled for this month. This 

is part of the bank’s efforts to 

leverage partnerships and 

initiatives that support and 

promote Nigeria’s development 

and growth. 

TEDx is a global platform 

created in the spirit of TED’s 

mission, “ideas worth sharing”. 

The Lagos event will focus on 

bringing together some of 

Nigeria’s best minds; 

entrepreneurs and social 

entrepreneurs, professionals, 

innovators and reformers to share 

thought provoking ideas that will 

encourage decisive action for the 

benefit of the society.




Mixed reactions to trail equity market 

as investors lose N61bn in 5 days 

Stories by Peter Egwuatu 

MIXED reactions by 

investors are expected 

to typify the equity market on 

the Nigerian Stock Exchange, 

NSE, this week amid renewed 

profit taking activities which 

led to investors losing N61 

billion in five trading days last 

week. 

The NSE market 

capitalisation which 

represents investors worth in 

the market, fell to N13.322 

trillion last weekend from 

N13.383 trillion it opened 

during the review week. 

Analysts have said that this 

week investors’ sentiment 

would be mixed as half year, 

HI’18 corporate earnings 

continue to have mixed 

reactions. 

Mr. Victor Chiazor, analyst 

at Capital Bancorp Plc said: 

“2018 half year results have so 

far not been as impressive as 

we would have expected, 

though a few companies have 

managed to surprise investors 

with significantly improved 

numbers and as you know, the 

market will react positively to 

good numbers and also react 

with a sell down when their 

earnings fail to impress.” 

In their reactions, analysts at 

Vetiva Capital said: “With 

large-cap stocks constantly 

under pressure throughout 

the week, and a slowdown in 

earnings releases, we foresee 

a tepid start to the week as 

market sentiment remains 

soft.” 

Commenting on stock to 

watch, Vetiva said “Wema 

Bank has lost 10 percent in 

the last eight sessions. The 

stock is still outperforming 

other banking stocks, 

returning 32.69 percent, Yearto-Date 

(YtD) compared to the 

-2.89 percent YtD average and 

is the third best performing 

banking stock.” 

Meanwhile, a review of 

market performance last week 

showed that the NSE All Share 

Index, ASI, another stock 

market gauge drew to a -52 

bases points, bps, close last 

Friday and a -37 bps Weekon-Week, 

WoW, close as losses 

were observed in blue chips. 

A total turnover of 1.391 

billion shares worth N20.316 

billion were traded last week 

by investors in 20,064 deals as 

against 1.417 billion shares 

valued at N16.739 billion that 

exchanged hands penultimate 

week in 19,832 deals. 

The Financial Services 

Industry (measured by 

volume) led the activity chart 

FIRST Bank Nigeria 

Holding Plc, FBNH, has 

charged Association of 

Stockbroking Houses of Nigeria, 

ASHON, to deepen capital 

market activities in order to be 

able to influence government 

policies. The bank also backed 

the moves by ASHON to 

establish a commodity exchange, 

with 824.153 million shares 

valued at N9.274 billion 

traded in 11,620 deals; thus 

contributing 59.23 percent and 

45.65 percent to the total 

equity turnover volume and 

value respectively. The 

Services Industry followed 

with 308.871 million shares 

worth N1.256 billion in 610 

deals. The third place was 

occupied by Consumer Goods 

Industry with a turnover of 

86.151 million shares worth 

N8.073 billion in 3,103 deals. 

Trading in the top three 

equities namely – Nigerian 

Aviation Handling Co. Plc, 

United Bank for Africa Plc and 

Zenith International Bank Plc 

(measured by volume) 

accounted for 460.997 million 

shares worth N5.273 billion in 

2,513 deals, contributing 

33.13 percent and 25.95 

percent to the total equity 

turnover volume and value 

respectively 

Govt policies: First Bank tasks ASHON 

to deepen market activities 

stressing that it will help in 

deepening the market. 

The Group Managing Director, 

FBNH, Mr. Kalu Eke, who stated 

this during a courtesy visit of 

ASHON’s Executive Officers to 

the management of First Bank, 

noted with delight the 

collaborative efforts of ASHON 

to move the market forward. 

Apapa traffic takes toll on Honeywell Flour’s financials 

HONEYWELL Flour Mills 

Plc has released its 

financial results for the first 

quarter ended June 30, 2018, 

posting N17.7 billion revenue 

from net sales of flour, 

semolina, wheat meal, pasta 

and instant noodles products. 

This represents a three 

percent decline from the N18 

billion achieved in the 

corresponding period of 2017. 

The key impediment to growth 

during the period, according to 

the company, was the Apapa 

Traffic Gridlock which has 

virtually crippled business 

activities in Lagos State. 

The company, in a statement 

said: “The dilapidated road 

infrastructure and chaotic traffic 

situation in and around the 

nation’s premier port has made 

it inordinately difficult and 

enormously expensive to 

transport goods out of the 

factory in Tin can Island. This 

challenge has resulted in an 

effective freight cost increase of 

about 25 percent.” 

Further analysis of the result 

shows that cost of goods sold 

increased by one percent 

relative to same period last year 

following rising prices of wheat; 

a major raw material input and 

this contributed to a decline in 

Gross Profit from N3.8 billion 

to N3.2 billion. 

Operating profit was 

about N1 billion after netting 

off Selling and Administration 

costs in the period. However, 

the company was able to 

manage its finance cost which 

declined N892 million for the 

quarter from N1.3 billion in the 

equivalent quarter of the 

previous year. Consequently, a 

reduced Profit before Tax of 

N127 million was recorded. 

He said: “This is a meeting 

that should have happened 

years back. FBNH considered it 

a corporate recognition for being 

worthy of partnership with 

ASHON. We know the primary 

role that stockbrokers play in 

deepening the market and 

creating awareness. And so, for 

us, this is a partnership that 

should be strengthened 

“I think this partnership 

supports the government 

initiative towards deepening the 

market. On our part, we are 

going to provide our platform, 

which is the First Bank of Nigeria 

Limited. The commercial bank 

will support the commodity 

exchange initiative. We will 

definitely partner with you. It is 

a great development for the 

market.” 

Speaking, Chairman, 

ASHON, Chief Patrick Ezeagu, 

explained that stockbrokers were 

always eager to get fresh 

information from quoted 

companies to enhance their 

investment advisory role for their 

clients. 

Sterling Bank 

gross earnings 

up by 35% 

STERLING Bank Plc has 

reported a 35.9 percent 

growth in gross earnings to 

N77.6 billion in the first half 

ended June 30, 2018 from 

N57.1 billion recorded in the 


The bank also recorded a 

Profit After Tax (PAT) of N6.2 

billion on gross earnings of 

N77.6 billion as against PAT of 

N3.8 billion on gross earnings 

of N57.1 billion during the 


Commenting on the result, 

Mr. Abubakar Suleiman, Chief 

Executive Officer, Sterling 

Bank Plc, said “We sustained 

our momentum in the second 

quarter, delivering solid growth 

across key financial indices. We 

also achieved a 35.9 percent 

growth in gross earnings to 

N77.6 billion from N57.1 billion 

in the second quarter of 2017. 

This was largely driven by a 

25.1 percent growth in interest 

income and a 56.5 percent 

growth in transaction banking 

revenues, emphasizing our 

commitment to our retail drive.” 

Suleiman disclosed that net 

operating income was up 29.1 

percent, on the back of a 54.8 

percent reduction in 

impairment charges. “Sterling 

Bank experienced significant 

improvement in asset quality as 

cost of risk declined further by 

86 basis points to 0.8 percent 

from 1.6 percent in June 2017, 

reflecting the strength of our 

risk management framework. 

Overall, Profit after Tax rose by 

64.8 percent to N6.2 billion 

resulting in a 370-basis point 

increase in Return on Average 

Equity to 12.2 percent.” 

Safetrust posts 

N2bn gross 

earnings 

SAFETRUST Mortgage 

Bank Limited posted over 

N2 billion in gross earnings for 

the Year 2017, representing 35 

per cent growth for the same 

period in 2016. 

According to results recently 

published in the Bank’s Annual 

Report and Financial 

Statements, the Profit After Tax, 

PAT was N307 million, an 

increase of 683 percent above 

the 2016 PAT. Total assets stood 

at N13.5 billion compared to 

N8.1 billion in the previous 

year while shareholders’ funds 

grew 100 per cent from N2.77 

billion to N5.54 billion due to 

increase in issued shares. 

Presenting the results at the 

company’s just concluded 2018 

Annual General Meeting held 

in Lagos, Ayodele Arogbo, the 

Chairman, Board of Directors, 

attributed the Bank’s strong 

financial performance in 2017 

to improved service quality, 

robust corporate governance 

and excellent work ethics.




Investors Forum 

H2’18 Investors’ advisory: 

Partisan horse trading worsens equities outlook 

•But sentiment would remain better than pre-2015 election 

By Emeka Anaeto, 

Business Editor 

AS the first half/ third 

quarter corporate earnings 

season peaks and the 

shape of equities’ fortunes at 

year end begin to emerge we 

present again the last series 

in the batch of investors’ 

guide to stock pick and overall 

portfolio positioning. 

This section is taken from 

the reports of analysts at Cardinalstone 

Partners Limited, 

a Lagos based investment 

house which they titled, “Nigeria 

Outlook – Navigating 

the Tide”. They released the 

report last weekend, and its 

equities section has the following 

propositions: 

‘Equities: The bears come 

out to play’ 

Despite the improving macroeconomic 

sentiments currently 

playing out in the country, 

we expect activities in the 

equities market to remain lethargic 

for the most of second 

half 2018, H2’18, largely due 

to a spill-over from the current 

widespread bearish sentiments 

being experienced 

across emerging and frontier 

markets, and partly due to 

investors’ jitters on the back 

of upcoming 2019 presidential 

elections. 

Top conviction stocks 

African markers and their P/E ratios 

Upcoming 

elections 

Historically, statistics show 

that the period preceding the 

elections in Nigeria experiences 

the highest exit of foreign 

investors from the market 

and thus, we do not see a 

deviation from this trend with 

the upcoming elections. The 

exit of investors from the market 

towards the end of H1’18 

has dampened the mood of 

the market and at such we 

expect sentiments to remain 

depressed in H2’18 despite 

the country’s present positive 

macroeconomic buffers. 

Election jitters may 

depress foreign inflows in 

H2’18 

As the upcoming general 

elections approach, heightened 

tensions amidst warring 

political factions have led to 

inevitable market pressures 

and as such we expect that the 

performance of the local 

bourse in H2’18, to a great 

extent, will be influenced by 

the tone of the political environment 

in the coming 

months. 

Coalitions between warring 

political factions to produce a 

formidable presidential opponent 

has heightened fears of 

political instability and thus, 

we expect trading activities in 

the equities market to remain 

weak in H2’18 as investors are 

likely to stay cautious pending 

the election outcome. 

However, we do not expect 

to see the extreme bearishness 

observed in the 2014 preelection 

period which was 

exacerbated by the drop in 

crude oil prices. Hence, despite 

our expectations of 

heightened cautiousness in 

the equities market in H2’18, 

we believe that performance 

during the period will swing 

between marginal gains and 

marginal losses as opposed to 

the steep decline observed in 

2014. 

MTN listing may throw 

upside 

MTN’s impending listing is 

expected to spur trading activities 

if the Initial Public 

Offering, IPO, goes through 

in H2’18. The much-anticipated 

Initial Public Offering of 

MTN, one of Africa’s largest 

telecommunications companies 

and the largest in Nigeria 

with about 40.7% market 

share (over 65.2 million subscribers 

as at June 2018 according 

to data from the Nigerian 

Communications Commission), 

is expected to boost 

trading activities in the equities 

market if it goes live in 

H2’18. 

From a relative 

valuation 

stand 

point, the 

Nigeria market 

currently 

trades at a 

discount 

when compared 

to its 

peers 

The offer, with a projected 

size of between $400 and $500 

million (24% to 30% of the 

company’s total equity) promises 

to expand entry into the 

ICT industry. With the listing 

of MTN Nigeria, the ICT sector 

would be another large cap 

sector on the local bourse, 

which will in turn help improve 

market depth, and increase 

the Nigerian Stock 

Exchange, NSE’s market value. 

We expect the IPO to boost 

investor confidence in the 

Nigerian market as a viable 

and growing market. However, 

we cannot rule out the possibility 

of a delay in the IPO 

listing until after the elections 

because market conditions 

may be unfavourable prior to 

the elections as investors remain 

on the side-lines. Our 

expectations for this IPO is 

further dampened by the 

growing aversion for emerging 

and frontier markets’ equities 

on the back of heightened 

global economic tensions. 

Current valuations offer 

attractive entry point for daring 

investors 

Despite improving macroeconomic 

fundamentals and 

better earnings outlook for 

listed companies, valuations 

of counters on the exchange 

has continued to decline as 

investors shun emerging and 

frontier markets particularly 

Nigeria on the back of heightened 

political risks. 

However, we think currently 

attractive valuations provide 

strategic investors good 

entry points to cherry pick 

fundamentally sound stocks in 

anticipation of the recovery 

when political tensions abate. 

From a relative valuation 

stand point, the Nigeria market 

currently trades at a discount 

when compared to its 

peers. 

At a P/E of 10.7x, the equities 

market is undervalued 

compared to Johannesburg 

Stock Exchange, JSE, and 

Morgan Stanley Capital International, 

MSCI, frontier 

market index with P/E of 

17.7x and 14.1x respectively. 

Hence, whilst we remain 

cautious on the performance 

of the equities market in the 

immediate term largely due to 

political uncertainty, we are 

optimistic of better performance 

in the mid to long term. 

C 

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Sweetcrude, June 2018 

C 

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YK

Sweetcrude, August 2018 

C 

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YK

Sweetcrude, June August 2018 2018 

C 

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28 — Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2018


Infrastructure not an 

investible instrument 

—Sigma Pensions boss 

Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Sigma 

Pensions, Mr. Dave Uduanu, in this interview talks on 

challenges of investing part of the pension fund in 

infrastructure. 

Excerpt. 


THERE have been 

various calls from 

different quarters for part of 

the pension fund to be 

invested into infrastructure, 

what is your take on this? 

Pension 

Fund 

Administrators, PFAs, are 

keen on investing in 

infrastructure but can only 

invest in investible 

infrastructure instruments 

that can guarantee their 

retirees’ funds. The major 

challenge with diversification 

of pension fund is 

unavailability of investment 

instruments. One of the key 

channels we could invest in 

as a means of diversifying the 

portfolio is infrastructure, 

however, infrastructure is not 

investible. 

When we say it is not 

investible, it means we don’t 

have instruments through 

which we can invest in 

infrastructure, get a good 

return and get the money 

back. So the real question 

with the PFAs is, how do you 

create diversification in a 

market where the capital 

The major 

challenge with 

diversification 

of pension 

fund is 

unavailability 

of investment 

instruments 

market is shallow? Also, the 

only person borrowing is the 

government, while the 

companies as well as the 

corporates are afraid of 

coming to us to borrow 

because our standards are 

high, much higher than the 

•Mr. Dave Uduanu 

banks. 

The central thing holding 

back corporate bonds in 

Nigeria is corporate 

governance. So a lot of the 

companies are not interested 

in opening their books to 

investors to scrutinize and 

until we address the issue of 

corporate governance, as well 

as transparency, we would not 

see the instruments that will 

create diversification 

opportunities for pension 

funds. 

You recently brought 

stakeholders together in a 

roundtable to discuss the 


issue, what informed that 

decision? 

The roundtable is the first in 

the series of thought 

leadership that Sigma 

Pensions is putting in place 

to discuss key issues within 

the investment space in 

Nigeria. We are one of the five 

biggest PFAs in Nigeria as we 

manage money for a lot of 

people and they often wonder 

what their money is going into 

but more importantly how do 

we create value for our 

customers. The conference is 

to highlight the macro risks 

that the country is facing as a 

build up to the elections in 

spite of the high oil prices. 

The second was on private 

equity which we think is quite 

germane because the banking 

sector is starved of capital, 

they are not lending anymore 

and the other sources of 

capital are pension funds and 

insurance companies, but 

according to our regulations, 

the only way we can invest in 

the real sector is through 

private equity fund. So we 

thought we should discuss 

the challenges of investing in 

private equity, bring some 

experienced practitioners in 

the industry to the roundtable 

to discuss and articulate ways 

that we can increase the 

penetration of pension funds 

in private equity. 

What are the takeaways 

from the roundtable? 

The first takeaway is that it 

was well received. The second 

is that we should do more 

because oftentimes people 

think everyone knows what 

the issues are but they actually 

don’t. But more importantly, 

is the fact that we have started 

a conversation between the 

pension fund and the private 

equity that will lead to more 

investment of pension fund in 

private equity and more 

investment of private equity 

in Small and Medium 

Enterprises, SME, and 

growing companies. 

Low disposable income 

affecting insurance 

business in Nigeria 

—Adeda 

approved early enough, then 

Ministries, Departments and 

Agencies, MDAs, of 

government can also renew 

their policies on time. 

Because of late passage of 

budget, some MDAs don’t 

renew and it is a situation 

that we are facing today. 

Bottom-line of 

some organisations 

Former President of the Chartered Insurance Institute of 

Nigeria, CIIN, and the Managing Director of Alpha 

Choice Insurance Brokers, Mr. Sunny Adeda, in this 

interview talks on effects the economy is having on 

insurance business. 

Excerpt. 


WHAT was the 

experience of 

insurance operators in the 

first half of 2018? 

For the insurance industry, 

we are usually quite busy in 

the first half of every year. 

Most of the big corporate 

accounts are renewed in 

January and then towards the 

middle of the year, some other 

customers might renew their 

various policies. 

But towards the end of the 

year, we prepare again for 

renewals of the incoming year. 

So far, the industry is 

progressing very well but the 

economy itself is not helping 

matters in the sense that the 

disposable cash for a lot of 

We are hoping to 

see a situation 

whereby the 

budget is passed 

by the 1st of 

January every 

year 

people is not also there. 

Most companies and 

factories are still not in full 

•Mr. Sunny Adeda 

operation. Some factories 

have closed down while some 

have partially closed down. 

Technically, insurance is 

being financially affected. We 

hope that all the steps the 

government is putting in 

place to ensure that the 

economy comes back to what 

it was works, then insurance 

will boom once again. 

What are your expectations 

from the budget that was 

recently passed? 

The country’s budget 

experience has not been too 

encouraging, as it is passed 

late into the year. We appeal 

to the legislators to try and 

fast-track the process so that 

insurance can run for a full 

year. If the budget is 

If there is no premium, then 

there is no cover. That could 

be a loss to the companies 

that are underwriting those 

businesses. In essence, we are 

hoping to see a situation 

whereby the budget is passed 

by January 1 every year. 

This will enable us to have 

the benefit of the full year of 

the budget for insurance. 

How is the economy 

affecting insurance business? 

Due to the economic 

situation of the country, the 

disposable income of the 

average Nigerian is very 

small and because many 

insurance companies are 

struggling, they will not want 

to scare away customers with 

increased premium. 

When you check the bottomline 

of some organisations, 

you will discover that they are 

managing and struggling to 

stay afloat.



Why we are 

in dialogue with 

Nigerian government 

of critical 

— American investors importance to the 

President, American Business Council (ABC), Dr. Lazarus 

Angbazo, who is also the Managing Director of General Electric 

(GE) in Nigeria, along with the Vice President of ABC, Darrell 

McGraw, and US Commercial Counsellor, Brent Omdahl, as well 

as other leaders of ABC, in this interview against the backdrop of 

the recent survey report of American businesses in Nigeria, spoke 

on a number of issues concerning the Nigerian business 

environment, and the role of American businesses in Nigeria. 

Excerpts: 

WHAT are the focus, 

deliverables of the 

Commercial Investment 

Dialogue, CID, you are 

holding with Nigeria? 

First of all though we are in 

business here, but we are not 

just here to cater for our 

businesses. We want to see a 

very strong local private sector, 

and that is really the 

point. Having said that, we 

have had a series of 

partnerships quite actively and 

impressively with the 

Government. We had series of 

partnerships with government 

agencies and officials, like the 

Minister of Trade and 

Investment, the CBN Governor, 

with the Presidency. We believe 

in having an on-going 

dialogue, we challenge them 

when we have to. 

In overall we expect to 

heighten American Business 

interest and investments in 

Nigeria, to support the 

government’s economic 

policies, have deeper 

engagement with Nigeria. 

Coming from the office of US 

Secretary of Commerce, CID 

expects to have increasing 

American investments in 

Nigeria, support diversification, 

agric sector, the digital 

economy, improving regulatory 

framework, we hope to improve 

the overall climate, the business 

environment and facilitate 

private sector deals to take 

place. 

You talked about support to 

government’s economic 

policy, what do you have to say 

on policy inconsistencies in 

Nigeria? 

On policy inconsistencies and 

a whole host of regulatory 

constraints the business 

community feels the pain and 

not just the American business 

community. I think this is an 

area, quite frankly, I have seen 

a lot of activities on the part of 

government trying to address. 

For example, American 

Business Council works in 

collaboration with the NESG 

(Nigerian Economic Summit 

Group) and focuses on such 

regulatory constraints and 

proffers solutions and even go 

beyond and partner with 

Government on initiatives to 

begin to address the challenges. 

For example, theAmerican 

Business Council with 

other Nigerian 

companies has been 

supporting the Vice 

President’s Presidential 

Initiatives on 

Competitiveness and 

Industrialisation. All 

these regulatory concerns have 

become a major area of 

collaboration for American 

Business Council in Nigeria. 

There is a major engagement 

around this area. 

On the ERGP (Economic 

Recovery and Growth Plan) the 

American Business Council put 

Increasingly 

everybody is looking 

inwards because we 

believe in this 

country and that 

Nigeria is a 

sustainable project 

out a statement and welcomes 

the initiative behind that 

because we really believe that 

it was very tactical, it was an 

attempt to identify specific 

bottlenecks in the economy and 

unlock them, and deal with the 

underutilisation of the 

potentials of the segments of the 

economy. American Business 

Council plays the supportive 

advocacy and partnership role 

there. 

I would like you to throw 

more light on your direct 

investments in Nigeria, the 

contribution to GDP and also 

the difficulties Nigerians have 

working with American 

companies 

I think there is a number of 

publicly disclosed data in terms 

of what we have done. It is 

probably very difficult to 

aggregate all of that because 

some of the announcements are 

coming in piecemeal. We 

(General Electric) did announce 

some, Kelloggs announced a 

couple of such last year, and 

many others. But that spoke to 

the snapshots of 2017. There 

was a total of 1.6 billion dollars 

of investment flow by the 

American companies in capital 

expenditure not to talk about 

investment in other capacity 

building areas. Localisation is 

a big focus for us in American 

Business Council. So the idea 

that Nigerian companies are 

having big problem working for 

American companies, quite 

frankly, I don’t subscribe to that 

notion because there is a big 

focus on Nigerian local content 

at UPS, GE and many others, 

because we go out to recruit, 

train and qualify local Nigerian 

companies to become part of 

our global supply chain and we 

are doing that, but obviously, it 

takes time. We try to qualify local 

Nigerian companies so they can 

compete at the global stage. 

That may be onerous, but the 

idea is not to make Nigeria a 

sub-standard partner but to get 

them on the same footing as 

suppliers from India, China 

etc. 

(Vice President, American 

Business Council, Darrell 

McGraw): One of the areas I 

would like to speak on is the 

skills gap. We like to ensure that 

people have the proper training 

for the jobs and are appropriate 

for their workforce. This is an 

area a lot of companies are 

having trouble and a lot of 

American companies are 

investing in this area in 

Nigeria. 

What are the impacts of 

America’s business activities on 

the lives of average 

Nigerians? 

American businesses and the 

American Business Council 

have a good sense of what it 

means to be a good corporate 

citizen. A year ago GE with UPS 

•Dr. Lazarus Angbazo 

supported the IDP (Internally 

Displaced People) camps in the 

North East Nigeria. Since then 

we have gone beyond the 

immediate crisis to invest in 

SME development with GE 

garages which is purely on 

SME development initiative 

that generates no income for GE 

but provides capacity building 

to the corporate SME 

community. That for us is a 

good CSR programme. There is 

also a number of employee 

programme conducted in the 

health-care area and this all add 

up to a significant amount if 

dollars and the survey captured 

that. Exxon Mobil has a huge 

programme with the XLM 

Africa. We do it because we 

believe in the partnership 

model to sustainable business. 

In the end that is a sense of 

shared mutual benefits. 

(Managing Director, UPS): 

Business is not just about profit 

it is about the people and 

environment and the 

community where you operate. 

Increasingly everybody is 

looking inwards because we 

believe in this country and that 

Nigeria is a sustainable project. 

Sustainable 

project 

For us at UPS we partner with 

Cross River State Government 

on climate conservation, we 

have a very rich primate in 

different species in Cross River 

which unfortunately this type of 

species some of them are rare 

and we don’t find them in many 

parts of the world. 

(Chief 

Executive 

Officer, Margaret Olele:) 

What we have started to do 

in the last few years is to act 

as a platform to set the 

conversation on issues that are 

private sector. An 

example for 

instance, is the 

breakfast meeting 

that was organised 

with NAFDAC 

(National Agency 

for Food and Drugs 

Administration and 

Control) recently. At 

that meeting with 

the new Director 

General of 

NAFDAC we had 

other members who 

were not members 

of the American 

Business 

Council 

well. 

as 

We 

realised a 

couple of 

issues that 

other companies were 

inundated with so we had 

committed with working with 

NAFDAC to set up that 

platform where the private 

sector can share their problems 

and see where the American 

Business Council can make 

things easier working with the 

regulatory agencies. 

Recently, we had the 

collaboration with the NESG 

to look at the challenges the 

private sector is facing in key 

sectors, we had a document 

and shared it with the 

Minister. We have been 

supporting the private sector 

in initiatives whether it is 

American or non- American 

because we believe once the 

business environment works, 

everybody, both the 

Government and the private 

sector and the people of 

Nigeria will be better off. 

What is your take on 

Nigeria’s controversial 

position on the African 

Continental Free Trade 

Agreement? 

(US Commercial 

Counsellor, Brent Omdahl): 

The US Government policy is 

very clear on opening its 

borders, when goods and 

people cross borders. It 

stimulates economic 

development and creates 

economic opportunities. It has 

been proven in regional 

organisations around the 

world. So this was an 

important topic of discussion 

around the AGOA conference. 

As complex as Nigeria is you 

can’t make a decision without 

going through the process 

through stakeholders. This 

type of integration is good for 

the companies, good for the 

individuals and it really raises 

the middle class.



The child was diseased at birth, stricken with hereditary ill that only the most 

vital [and fortunate] people are able to shake off. I mean poverty; the most 

deadly and prevalent of all diseases —Eugene O’Neill, 1885-1953. 

NIGERIA is now the world’s largest breeder of poverty and our political 

leaders collectively and 

irrespective of party don’t give 

a damn. I was in Akwa Ibom 

on Monday, July 30, 2018; 

specifically in Essien Udim 

Local Government, 

sandwiched between Ikot 

Ekpene LG and Abia State on 

the now totally neglected Aba- of getting out of it because 

Ikot Ekpene Federal Road. The Presidents from Obasanjo to 

LG was not on my itinerary Buhari have refused to repair 

when I set off from Lagos. But, that road. Even Jonathan from 

an unexpected meeting with an the South South did nothing 

indigene of Ikot Ada Utor about it despite the 

community sent me overwhelming votes he 

scampering there. If you had received from them. It was 

been dropped blindfolded on callous. 

the Aba-Ikot Ekpene Road at The plight of the people of 

any point, it would be difficult Essien Udim LG only serves as 

for you to imagine that you are a metaphor for the unchecked 

in Nigeria; let alone one in an and continuous pauperization 

oil producing state. 

of the majority of stakeholders 

The neglect was total. From of NIGERIA PLC under 

the Ikot Ekpene boundary to Buhari. Readers should bear in 

Abia State boundary and mind that to reverse our 

return, I met a total of seven headlong crash into crushing 

vehicles including two trailers poverty, the Nigerian economy 

and one truck. The only means must grow at five per cent 

of transport available were every year for at least ten years 

motor cycles and tri-cycles. A before we can enjoy per capita 

motorist stranded on that road income close to what we had 

might wait for days without in 2012. Right now, Buhari 

help. Virtually all the filling administration and the state 

stations were closed down and governors are not getting us 

the few still operating sell fuel close to half of that figure. The 

at over N200 per litre. With economy grew at less than one 

economic life shut down, the per cent in the first quarter of 

level of poverty can only be this year. We wait for the Q2 

imagined. 

result; but, it is unlikely to 

Several communities lying reach two per cent. Each 

between Aba and Ikot Ekpene quarter we grow at less than 

are already terribly five per cent sends more people 

impoverished with little hope into extreme poverty. We now 

breed almost half of the people 


Why CBN’s intervention 

funds are not making 

desired impact 

— MD Coastline MfB 

Managing Director, Coastline Microfinance Bank 

Limited, Mrs. Fejiro Ugute, in this interview stressed the need 

to review the criteria for accessing intervention funds of the 

Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN so as to make them accessible 

to microfinance banks. She also spoke on efforts of the bank 

towards the financial inclusion target of the apex bank. 

Excerpts: 

By Providence Emmanuel 

HOW would you assess 

the activities of 

Microfinance Banks in Delta 

State in view of the economic 

challenges and insecurity in 

some parts of the country? 

First of all, before assessment 

is made on something, you must 

first find out what the purpose of 

that thing is. The purpose of MfB 

is to empower the masses at the 

grassroots level in the society. 

The grassroots level simply 

means the base of the society and 

the base of every existence is the 

foundation. A building without 

Nigeria world’s leading breeder of 

poverty 

foundation will collapse. MfB is 

the foundation upon which an 

economy is built. 

Therefore, accessing and 

appraising the MfB in Delta 

State, simply means how many 

people have MfBs given a 

financial foundation for them to 

build upon and the answer is 

numerous. As at April 7, 2018 

Delta State was the third richest 

state in Nigeria with a GDP of 

$16.749 billion. A state cannot 

have that kind of economy 

without a proper solid foundation 

and that foundation is MfB 

subsector. I say the MfBs have 

done well for themselves for this 

descending below the poverty 

line worldwide. Permit me to 

briefly explain the reasons. 

Power supply defines all 

economies. Once upon a time, 

when Federal Government 

officials and some so-called 

technocrats were boasting 

about Nigeria becoming a top 

20 economy by 2020, they were 

Consumers are in 

conflict with the 

Distribution 

Companies, 

DISCOs and the 

Minister in charge; 

the DISCOs are at 

war with 

consumers and the 

Ministry 

told to look at the gap in power 

generation between South 

Africa, SA, then number 32 and 

Nigeria. SA was already 

generating over 45000MW; 

Nigeria, officially, was stuck at 

4000MW. Only the pervasive 

Mrs. Fejiro Ugute 

period despite the problem of 

insecurity, armed robbery, 

kidnapping, youth restiveness or 

youth restlessness, militancy; yet, 

we are thriving; going into the 

creeks to empower and liberate 

people from abject poverty and 

squalor. 

It is only at MfB will illiterates 

be properly guided on how to be 

empowered and truly 

empowered. Economic 

challenges are there for us to 

overcome and solve. These 

challenges are our 

responsibilities and we handle 

them by standardizing local 

use of generators in Nigeria 

helped to close the gap. But, 

power generation by private 

companies made our products 

more expensive. 

Today, the Nigerian power 

sector is in more disarray than 

when Buhari became 

President. The evidence stares 

us and investors in the face 

everyday. All the stakeholders 

in the power sector are at 

daggers-drawn. Consumers 

are in conflict with the 

Distribution Companies, 

DISCOs and the Minister in 

charge; the DISCOs are at war 

with consumers and the 

Ministry; generating units 

have a raging battle with 

DISCOs and the banks which 

financed the DISCOs are 

having a tough time collecting 

payments as and when due. 

Meanwhile, the regulatory 

body National Electricity 

Regulatory Commission, 

NERC, has become more 

partisan than anybody expects. 

Designed to protect consumers 

from the awesome powers of the 

DISCOs, the NERC has turned 

deaf ears to the complaint of 

consumers regarding 

estimated billing and the 

failure of DISCOs to provide 

metres – meaning proof – that 

consumers are not being 

ripped-off. Even its latest 

announcement that consumers 

can procure their own meters 

has not been well-explained. 

Among important and 

unanswered questions are: 

who installs the meter? How 

can DISCOs be sure that they 

provide correct measurement? 

What happens if a meter 

becomes defective or gets burnt 

while a replacement has not 

been found? 

Just recently some DISCOs 

announced their willingness to 

return their units to the Federal 

Government – even at a deep 

discount. The meaning of that 

is clear. Even those of them who 

had taken a “wait and see” 

attitude might no longer be 

willing to wait; because they 

have seen enough. When three 

or four DISCOs out of 

desperation quit in disgust, 

Nigeria would not just return 

to the starting point of public 

ownership, we would end with 

temporary chaos in the power 

sector which will make any 

rapid economic growth 

impossible. 

Strategic roads and power 

define economic activities in 

any country. We have seen how 

atrocious policies on power are 

slowing us down. When we 

turn to our major roads and we 

should cry…. 

MICRO-FINANCE 

businesses/services, 

agriculture, trade, 

manufacturing, among others to 

discourage reliance on foreign 

imported products, thereby 

increasing the worth and 

appreciation of locally made 

goods. 

How is your bank working 

towards the financial inclusion 

target of the CBN? 

As the MD/CEO of Coastline 

Micro finance Bank, formerly 

known as Okere Community 

Bank, we are strict observers of 

all CBN prudential guidelines for 

25 years, the CBN financial 

inclusion target is driven by the 

bank earnestly in order to meet 

the demands of the unbanked in 

the creeks and remote villages. 

The bank in its milestone has 

branded its own Automated 

Teller Machine, ATM cards, has 

its own Bank Verification 

Number, BVN, machine of which 

people in the remote areas are 

registered by taking banking to 

their door steps. We also provide 

businesses in rural and remote 

villages with Point of Sale, PoS, 

terminal device for their 

customers to make purchases 

thereby reducing the risk of 

travelling long distance to the 

town to withdraw money before 

transactions are made. Our 

customers can check 

their account details using our 

USSD code. We also provide 

them mobile app to enable 

mobile transactions such as bills 

payment, recharge card 

purchase, fund transfer to make 

life easier for them. Financial 

inclusion is all about bringing 

financial activities and services to 

people that ordinarily do not have 

access to financial products and 

services. 

Do you think the 

intervention funds available to 

MfBs have achieved the purpose 

for which they were set up? 

The various intervention funds 

were supposed to uplift the 

masses especially those at the 

bottom of the pyramid, which the 

MfBs deal with currently, but 

stringent criteria and bottlenecks 

have hindered many from 

accessing it. If these criteria are 

reviewed it will help to meet the 

needs/objectives smoothly. 

How would you rate loan 

default at a time when the 

economy is in a bad shape? 

I wouldn’t say it wasn’t 

expected. Loan default is a 

foreseeable risk that we have 

seen and it is bewildering that 

the rate of loan default goes as 

high as the cost of living. People 

come to take loan as friends and 

refuse to pay like foes.


(08052201997) 

Economies of NYSC and stranded Nigerians in diaspora 

FINANCE Minister, Kemi 

Adeosun, has been in the 

eye of the storm lately, with the 

allegation that she forged an 

NYSC Exemption Certificate, to 

secure an earlier appointment, 

as a public servant in Ogun 

State. 

However, despite President 

Muhammed Buhari’s professed 

zero tolerance for corruption and 

unwholesome practices in public 

office, government has, 

inexplicably, not shown any 

interest in investigating the 

allegation, while NYSC’s 

Administration, has simply 

signed off with a non-committal 

open ended statement that “we 

shall investigate the origin of the 

purported Exemption Certificate 

in question.” 

Nonetheless, despite the 

subsisting allegation of forgery, 

which has not been denied, the 

Finance Minister was elected to 

chair the board of the African 

Export-Import Bank 

(AFREXIMBANK), at its 

General Meeting in Abuja, in 

July 2018. Arguably, President 

Buhari will burnish his image 

for discipline and accountability, 

if due process is strictly followed 

in the investigation of the NYSC 

Certificate forgery; clearly, an 

apology is nowhere prescribed 

as legal penalty for the crime of 

forgery. 

Hopefully, however, from a 

positive perspective, Adeosun’s 

predicament may induce a 

second look at the requirement 

for Nigerians, who graduated 

abroad, to participate in the 

compulsory 12 months Service 

Year for ‘Youth Corpers;’ failure 

to comply, invariably, excludes 

any Nigerian graduate, below 

30 years, from employment in 

the Public Service or in the 

Organised Private Sector. 

However, even if the conduct 

and content of the scheme still 

leave much to be desired, there 

is undoubtedly, much to be said 


CREDIT Afrique Microfinance Bank 

has announced a strategic 

partnership with Gokada Rides Limited 

for the provision of affordable asset 

finance loans to qualified members of the 

public. 

The partnership was announced after 

the signing of the Memorandum of 

Understanding by the two parties at a 

ceremony held at the office of 

CréditAfrique MFB as it opened its doors 

for business to the public. 

CréditAfrique will provide financing in 

the form of microloans to trained motorbike 

riders. The financing scheme will be in 

four phases, with the first tranche 

commencing in August 2018. Under the 

MOU, GOKADA will conduct both 

for the vision of the founding 

fathers to facilitate youth 

exposure and national 

integration. 

Unfortunately, there is 

presently no yardstick for 

assessing the national utility of 

the NYSC scheme, against the 

hundreds of billions of Naira, 

expended over the years, or the 

impact of the insecurity and 

social and economic 

uncertainties that these youths 

have to forcibly endure. 

Some critics find very little 

value in the present NYSC 

scheme and, therefore suggest 

that if we must sustain the 

programme, there are good 

reasons to reconstruct, its 

content and structure, to 

address current challenges 

relating particularly, to health, 

transportation, accommodation, 

feeding, etc, etc. The NYSC 

scheme clearly has both social 

and economic implications, as 

participants are relocated 

outside their accustomed 

comfort zones for almost 12 

months. Furthermore, for those 

graduates with exceptional 

results, who may already have 

better paying jobs waiting for 

them, participation implies loss 

of a whole year’s income, in 

place of the very modest NYSC 

monthly stipend below $100. 

Invariably, compared with 

their overseas counterparts; 

participation in NYSC would 

expectedly be less traumatic for 

graduates from Nigerian 

Universities, who are physically 

on ground, undeniably, the 

plight of foreign graduates is 

probably significantly 

multiplied, even if the rigours 

of participation don’t 

necessarily make the graduate 

a better Nigerian. 

Expectedly, therefore, with 

the perceived obstacles and 

challenges of compelled 

continental relocation, there is 

generally, very little inclination 

for Nigerian, foreign graduates 

to return home in a hurry. The 

horrendous downside also, is 

that the serious challenges of 

participating in the NYSC 

scheme, may forever discourage 

the return of thousands of 

diversely, qualified young 

Nigerian graduates back home, 

to reduce the expanding deficit 

in our nation’s human capital to 

steadily drive social and 

economic growth. 

Sadly, therefore, Nigeria’s 

loss, invariably becomes gain in 

human capital for those host 

countries, where our wards and 

children study. This 

phenomenon is generally, aptly 

It is estimated 

that Nigerian 

families 

probably spend 

well over $2bn 

annually as 

fees and 

allowances for 

their wards in 

foreign 

institutions 

Crédit Afrique MfB seals partnership deal with Gokada Rides 

written and psychometric tests for the 

intended participants and train them on 

the operation guidelines, safety, traffic 

rules and maintenance of the motorbikes 

before recommending them to the bank 

for loan disbursement on the purchase 

and setup of the motor bikes under the 

scheme for operation. The companies 

believe that the partnership addresses 

transportation/mobility challenges 

characterised by increasing levels of 

congestion, wide-spread pollution, road 

fatalities, and inequity in access in urban 

cities. 

In her remarks, a member of the 

management and board of directors, Mrs. 

Esohe Urhoghide expressed the bank’s 

excitement to partner with Gokada, “ To 

described as “BRAIN DRAIN” 

(The Webster Dictionary defines 

Brain Drain as “the process in 

which a country loses its most 

educated and talented workers 

to other countries through 

migration or the departure of 

educated or professional people 

from one country’s economic 

sector, or field for another 

usually for better pay or living 

conditions). Notably, the 

ironically, income challenged 

home economies, which funded 

the education and training of 

these migrant workers with 

significant sacrifice, regrettably, 

turn around to become 

increasingly deprived of the 

same vibrant human capital 

they require to drive their 

domestic socio-economic 

development. 

Thus, in an unexpected 

turnaround, an obviously 

poorer economy, inexplicably, 

ultimately, becomes a humble 

recipient of morsels of economic 

aid from those same countries, 

whose treasuries are constantly 

buoyed by the substantial 

foreign exchange, remitted 

annually for education of our 

wards and children in the US 

and other OECD countries. 

If this same model of 

engagement persists, between 

our country and other more 

successful economies, whose 

growth and development, we 

inexplicably seem to willfully 

fund, it is unlikely that the scale 

will ever tilt in our favour. These 

host countries, clearly recognise 

the commercial and economic 

advantage, derived from the 

subsisting arrangement, as 

Newspapers and other popular 

media are regularly surfeit with 

advertisements and campaigns 

to enroll Nigerian students for 

undergraduate studies in 

Universities, in countries such 

as the UK, US and EU and 

Canada. 

Nonetheless, the World Bank 

and its affiliates are quick to 

point out that the undenied 

Brain Drain, actually, 

ultimately translates to GAIN 

for countries with decayed 

educational infrastructure, such 

as ours; these otherwise 

respectable international 

financial Guardians, suggest 

that the over $20bn, reportedly, 

annually remitted from 

Nigerians in the Diaspora, also 

contribute steadily to growth of 

build safer, more inclusive, and 

sustainable cities of tomorrow, technology 

will play a crucial role in identifying 

mobility gaps and transforming existing 

transportation infrastructure as we have 

seen across the world. Our partnership 

with Gokada is in line with the bank’s 

mission to boost financial and social 

inclusion by making connections between 

viable financing and innovative solutions 

for small and medium businesses”. 

On his part, Deji Oduntan, Chief 

Executive Officer, Gokada Rides Limited, 

said, “We are delighted with our 

partnership with CA and look forward to 

a mutually beneficial relationship. There 

is a synergy between our two brands that 

we feel will result in a profitable 

per-capita income, which in 

turn stimulates consumer 

demand to encourage real 

sector investment, economic 

growth and more job 

opportunities. 

Invariably, it is generally mute 

that the $20bn reported 

remittance, is probably less than 

10% of the annual total value of 

human capital contribution 

which these host economies 

benefit from our wards and 

children who migrate or studied 

and remained aboard. Who is 

to say that Nigeria’s foreign 

based human capital cannot 

also create over $200bn 

annually, in value terms, if our 

government also pursues 

sensible economic models to 

drive the economy? 

It is obviously not in the 

interest of foreign host 

Universities, and economies, for 

Nigeria to improve its 

educational infrastructure. The 

reality is that, with the estimated 

annual requirement of about 

$50000, for each student to 

study and live the USA, UK, 

Canada and the EU, it is 

estimated that Nigerian families 

probably spend well over $2bn 

annually as fees and allowances 

for their wards in foreign 

institutions, i.e. this is much 

more than the federal fiscal 

allocation for education for most 

years; this amount does not 

include cost of air ticket for the 

students and for the parents 

whenever they wish to visit their 

children or wards abroad for any 

reason, including childbirths. 

Sadly, the modest aid received, 

in return, is often a small 

fraction of the total outflow from 

Nigeria; It surely makes sense 

with the prevailing reality to 

redress this imbalance by 

removing any obstacle, such as 

the compulsory NYSC scheme 

for Nigerians who graduated 

abroad and are willing to return 

home to supplement our human 

capital. 

ECONOMY 

relationship and positively enhance the 

lives of all participants. CréditAfrique is 

a great partner, and this partnership 

reflects our desire to collaborate with 

companies that share our vision of 

disruptive innovation and convenience. 

Gokada’s passion and dedication to 

innovation are already well known, and 

it’s an honour to work with the team. 

“More importantly, our bank takes pride 

in our mandate to be of service to the 

underserved by capturing the 

disorganised informal commercial sector 

that is unserved. A significant challenge 

around this has been the security of loans 

and high default ratios. Our focus on 

building a culture of creditworthiness and 

technology will aid our efforts in 

developing sustainable relationships with 

our customers. “Mrs Urhoghide added.

Now that Buhari is ECOWAS 

Chairman 

ONE of the first things I learnt 

about leadership is the 

William Shakespeare quotation 

that: “Some are born great, some 

achieve greatness, and some have 

greatness thrust upon them.” That 

again played out in Lome, Togo on 

July 31, when President 

Muhammadu Buhari had the 

chairmanship of the Economic 

Community of West African States, 

ECOWAS, ‘imposed’ on him. 

The Presidency said Buhari had 

gone innocently to the ECOWAS 

Summit prepared to vote for Cape 

Verde, Sierra Leone or Ghana as 

ECOWAS Chair when during the 

campaigns and without warning, the 

region’s Heads of State asked the 

candidates to step down only to: 

“impose the leadership of the 

organisation (on Buhari) against all 

protestations on the Nigerian 

leader.” 

If we accept this tale of the Nigerian 

Presidency, what happened at the 

ECOWAS Summit was the hand of 

a miracle-working God; a divine 

intervention. 

Personally, I would not have 

wanted Ghanaian President Nana 

Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to lead 

ECOWAS because of his 

administration’s anti-ECOWAS 

policy of labelling ECOWAS citizens 

as “foreigners” and seeking to push 

West African traders out of that 

By Sunny Awhefeada 

ONE name that will attract more than 

a significant attention when 

historians will chronicle the Nigerian 

experience will be that of the charismatic 

former governor of Delta State, Chief James 

Onanefe Ibori. James Ibori’s story 

approximates the Nigerian narrative in 

more ways than one. Born on 4th August 

1958, just before the moment of Nigeria’s 

independence in 1960, Ibori fits into 

Salman Rushdie’s metaphor of Midnight 

Children. Nigeria’s great promise, 

aspiration, grit, and resilience find 

manifestation in Ibori. If Nigeria has been 

mercilessly tossed into a vortex by her 

leaders, Ibori has also been a victim. 

Nigeria’s moments of triumphs, few as they 

are, have also been Ibori’s moments of 

ascendancy. Thus, when Nigeria came onto 

a new dawn in 1999, Ibori was there with a 

diadem as one of the harbingers of that new 

beginning. 

Ibori, who turned 60 on Saturday, 4th of 

August, came into national limelight as the 

governor of Delta State on the 29th of May, 

1999. His emergence as the governor of one 

of Nigeria’s most enlightened and politically 

volatile states at the young age of 41 is a 

testimony to his determination especially 

as he was not born into a known political 

family with the proverbial silver spoon 

jutting out of his mouth. He was born in the 

then rustic, but strategically located Oghara 

where he attended primary and secondary 

schools after which he entered the University 

of Benin to study Economics. It was in the 

university that Ibori’s dialogue with the 

world began. He took courses in the vast 

spectrum of the social sciences and was able 

to interrogate the many contradictions 

assailing the world, Africa and Nigeria. His 

country. 

President Jorge Carlos de Almeida 

Fonseca of Cape Verde is from a 

group of 10 volcanic islands with a 

total landmass of 4,500 square 

metres and a population of 553,335. 

Making him ECOWAS chairman 

would have made his head swell and 

he would have been tempted to rub 

shoulders with Nigeria, a country 

with 910,770 square metres and a 

population of over 180 million 

people. Cape Verde had shown that 

tendency of disrespect in football. 

As for Julius Maada Bio of Sierra 

Leone, he is an eaglet President who 

was just sworn in on April 2, 2018. 

So he needs to first learn how to crawl 

before running for the ECOWAS 

chairmanship. This is where we 

witnessed the divine intervention; 

raising up Buhari who is already the 

messiah in Nigeria, to extend his 

messiahship over the entire region. 

President Buhari was not born 

great, in fact, he left high school to 

join the army. He was a soldier, 

general and Military Head of State 

before being elected President, very 

much like General Gnassigbe 

Eyadema, father of host President, 

Faure Esszimna Gnassingbe. Faure, 

Buhari’s predecessor as ECOWAS 

Chairman, and his father, Eyadema, 

have had an unbroken 51-year rule 

over Togo. If ECOWAS respects 

fundamental human rights, Faure 

who has been clamping down on the 

populace, torturing, killing and 

holding political prisoners since 

protests against his autocratic rule 

began on October 18, 2017, would 

Odidigboigbo @ 60 

later engagements in life were powered by 

the knowledge he acquired studying the 

social sciences. 

After graduation, he worked in the oil 

sector before veering into consultancy in 

public policy formulation. Endowed with a 

quick mind, he soon resolved the conflictual 

essence of the way to go in favour of politics. 

His initial political outing around 1991 and 

1992 did not yield the desired result, but he 

was unfazed. He survived the twists and turns 

of the convoluted transition programme of 

the 1990s. When the People's Democratic 

Party, PDP, was formed in 1998, Ibori, young 

Ibori not only laid the 

foundation of Delta State, 

but built it into a 

development hub 

as he was, was in the vanguard of entrenching 

and stabilising it. It is doubtful if any of his 

contemporaries did more than he did in the 

making of the PDP at that early stage. 

When he campaigned for the 

governorship, the people of Delta State, 

irrespective of age or tribe, saw in him a 

refreshingly dynamic option that must be 

supported. He spoke the language which 

mirrored the aspirations and yearnings of 

Deltans. He articulated their impediments 

and pointed at the way out. He interrogated 

the injustices assailing his Niger-Delta 

homeland and tabled it at different fora. He 

was courageous and driven by an 

uncommon desire to remedy the degraded 

and inhuman condition of the Niger-Delta. 

While he campaigned across Delta State, 

the echoes of his political activities rang out 

all over Nigeria. The election came and 

If President Buhari 

does not make a 

success of his 

chairmanship of 

the ECOWAS, it will 

not be his fault 

because he was not 

even a reluctant 

candidate; the 

position was simply 

imposed on him; 

indeed, some have 

greatness thrust 

upon on them 

not have been chairman. 

At the ECOWAS Summit, President 

Buhari told his fellow Presidents 

that: “Respect for rule of law, 

democracy and promotion of 

human rights are also vital as they 

are attributes of good governance.” 

This is quite Presidential and I fully 

concur. But there are those who are 

not as loyal to the President as I am, 

at least not 100 per cent loyalty. I 

can reveal that one of such persons 

is retired Colonel Sambo Dasuki 

who will argue that because he has 

been kept in detention since 

December 1, 2015, President Buhari 

has no respect for human rights. He 

will also claim that Buhari is not a 

democrat because his 

administration is not allowing 

separation of powers. As for Buhari 

harping on “Respect for rule of 

law…” Dasuki will argue that 

because five courts, including the 

ECOWAS Court, had granted him 

bail on five different occasions and 

Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2018---33 

the Buhari administration refused to 

comply, the President’s claim is 

fraudulent. 

In fact, I detected some conspiracy 

when at the opening of the ECOWAS 

Summit, the organisers chose to 

swear in five new judges of the 

ECOWAS Community Court of 

Justice; was it to embarrass our dear 

President Buhari? If it were so, they 

failed because despite his disobeying 

the regional court, the political 

leaders saw him as the best person 

to lead West Africa. 

In their communique, the 

ECOWAS leaders lamented the 

worsening food security in the 

region: “arising from significant 

decline in production compared to 

2016/2017 crop year.” Again, they 

were unfair on Buhari who has done 

everything to enhance food 

production in Nigeria but whose 

noble efforts are thwarted by 

murderous herdsmen/bandits 

fleeing from war-torn Libya. Where 

in 2016, farmers in the Nigeria food 

basket of the Benue valley planted, 

weeded and harvested, cows now 

superintend, eating available crops 

and seeds. Ordinarily, President 

Buhari as Commander-in-Chief of 

the Armed Forces could send in the 

gallant Nigerian troops to weed out 

the bandits, retake the lands and 

restore them to their indigenous 

owners, but the local and 

international human rights wailers 

would accuse him of violating the 

fundamental human rights of the 

bandits to invade and occupy farm 

lands. 

Some of them have been urging 

him to declare the bandits as 

terrorists, but he has wisely refused, 

preferring diplomacy by advising the 

farmers to be accommodating. So 

when the 2017/2018 rains came, it 

met many of the farmers, not on their 

farms, but in camps for the internally 

displaced persons. 

The ECOWAS leaders in their 

communique are cleverly pushing 

Nigeria to sign the enslavement 

document called the EU-ECOWAS 

went. He emerged victorious and was sworn 

in as governor at 41, thus becoming one of 

the youngest governors in 1999. He didn’t 

need any quasi benevolent “Not too young 

to run bill” to propel himself. 

The Delta State Ibori met as governor was 

in straits. Created in 1991, the state had 

before 1999 experienced only an uncertain 

20 months of civilian rule under an 

overarching military dictatorship at the 

federal level. The development that should 

have been recorded in the remaining years 

was foiled by soldiers who ruled the state in 

the later years of military rule. Ibori’s vision 

and youthful energy went to work in the 

making of a new Delta State. He set up a 

think tank to produce a development 

blueprint for the state and what followed 

was a development revolution. 

No matter what anybody would say, 

especially in view of Ibori’s later travails 

which eventually forced him out of Nigeria, 

his tenure has been one of the most 

remarkably eventful in terms of vision, 

dynamism, agenda setting and 

developmental strides. Ibori not only laid 

the foundation of Delta State, but built it 

into a development hub on which future 

administrations should build. He opened up 

the entire state by connecting even the 

remotest parts with roads and bridges. He 

built educational institutions and the state 

became the one with the highest number of 

government-funded educational institutions 

in Nigeria. He also instituted an overseas 

scholarship scheme from which many 

Deltans benefitted. He replicated this feat 

in the health sector which he consolidated 

by building a world class teaching hospital. 

The state not only had the highest number 

of workforce in Nigeria, it also paid the 

Send Opinions & Letters to: 

opinions1234@yahoo.com 

Economic Partnership Agreement, 

EPA, on the basis that not signing it: 

“poses significant challenges to the 

regional integration process.” 

Perhaps, that is one of the reasons 

they put up Buhari as chairman; 

hoping to pressure him as chair to 

implement the communique. In any 

case, the EPA which gives 

preferential trade to Europe, 

contradicts the African Continental 

Free Trade Area, ACFTA, which 

enhances preferential trade and 

integration amongst African 

countries. 

One country that may have 

jumped for joy on hearing of President 

Buhari’s election is Morocco whose 

monarchical system is antidemocratic. 

Also, that country 

continues to occupy the sister African 

country of Western Sahara 

(Saharawi Arab Democratic 

Republic, SADR). Somehow, 

Morocco, whose leadership 

assumes it has Buhari as an ally, 

wants to continue the colonisation 

of Western Sahara as well as join the 

ECOWAS despite the fact that it is in 

North Africa, not West Africa, and is 

a trading outpost of neo-colonial 

European countries like France and 

Spain. 

The ECOWAS leaders picked 

Buhari based on faith despite being 

aware that his ruling All Progressives 

Congress, APC, is facing debilitating 

mass defections. In fact, Senate 

President Bukola Saraki has 

uprooted the ‘P’ in the APC acronym 

and taken it to the opposition 

People's Democaratic Party. They 

also know that the Nigerian 

Presidential elections are scheduled 

for February 16, 2019 which means 

that if Buhari is not re-elected, he 

would not complete his tenure as 

ECOWAS Chairman. If President 

Buhari does not make a success of 

his chairmanship of the ECOWAS, 

it will not be his fault because he was 

not even a reluctant candidate; the 

position was simply imposed on him; 

indeed, some have greatness thrust 

upon them. 

highest wages. He established the first oilproducing 

area intervention agency in any 

state of the Niger-Delta, the Delta State Oil- 

Producing Area Development Commission, 

DESOPADEC. He sought to introduce an 

agricultural revolution in Delta State 

through oil palm, cassava, shrimp and fish 

farming. The electrification projects he 

initiated lit up forgotten hamlets just as he 

encouraged the rapid spread of telecoms. 

Ibori’s visionary legacy inheres in his 

advocacy of resource control and true 

federalism. Although, he was 

internationally festooned as Mr. Resource 

Control, it was that crusade that got him 

into trouble with the powers-that-be in 

Nigeria. His stance has been vindicated as 

the ideals of restructuring which has become 

a national zeitgeist manifest in resource 

control and true federalism. Ibori’s travails 

especially his corruption trial in London 

has come to the fore as not only a 

persecution to diminish his profile, but also 

aimed at undermining the Niger-Delta and 

the minorities. This is why the only three 

governors who were “dealt with” among 

the 31 profiled for trial by Obasanjo/Ribadu 

scheme were from the Niger-Delta. 

In spite of his ordeals, Ibori remained a 

factor in state, regional, and national 

politics even while he was away. His 

political sagacity remains sublime. The 

shouts of Odidigboigbo, Odidigboigbo, 

Odidigboigbo, his onomatopoeic 

cognomen, which dominated the landscape 

when he returned to Nigeria in early 2017, 

is a measure of the looming place he 

occupies in our collective consciousness. As 

he clocks 60 with equanimity, the people of 

the despoiled Niger-Delta homeland have 

come to see him as the apotheosis of their 

aspiration. 

*Prof. Awhefeada wrote from Delta State 

University Abraka.


HARRISON 

I, formerly known and 

addressed as Miss 

Oritseweyinmi Anieta 

Harrison, now wish to 

be known and 

addressed as Mrs. 

Oritseweyinmi Anieta 

Owulezi. All former 

documents remain 

valid. General public 

please take note. 

EMENOGU 

Confirmation of Name 

This is to confirm that the 

name, Emenogu Lazarus 

and Emenogu Laz 

Onyekachi refer to one 

and the same me. I now 

wish to be known and 

addressed as Emenogu 

Laz Onyekachi. All former 

documents remain valid. 

General public please take 

note. 

OMADEVUAE 

AE 


addressed as Omadevuae 

Oghenetega Edith, and 

Kadoanya Oghenetega 

Edith, now wish to be 

known and addressed as 

Esegboma Oghenetega 

Edith. All former 



note. 

TOBON 


addressed as Miss Tobon 

Florence, now wish to be 

known and addressed as 

Mrs. Dabrilagha Florence. 

All former documents 

remain valid. University of 

Port Harcourt, Ministry of 

Education Bayelsa State, 

Civil Service Commission 

and general public please 

take note. 

GABRIEL 



Gabriel Rebecca 

Uzoamaka, now wish 

to be known and 


Agbonmhenlo Rebecca 

Uzoamaka. All former 




UZOEWULU 



Catherine Nwadiobimma 

Uzoewulu and Kate 

Nwadiobimma Uzoewulu, 

now wish to be known 

and addressed as Mrs. 

Catherine Nwadimma 

Nwora. All former 



note. 

AJAYI 


addressed as Bosede 

Oladunni Ajayi, now 


addressed as 

Christiana Bosede 

Oyewole. All former 




AKPAGIDE 



Olivia Chizorom 

Akpagide, now wish to 

be known and 

addressed as Mrs 

Olivia Chizorom 

Zannou. All former 




AWOSANMI 


addressed as 

Awosanmi Modupe 

Elizabeth, now wish to 

be known and 

addressed as 

Olalekan Modupe 

Elizabeth. All former 




AKPODOVHAN 



Iroro Akpodovhan, 

now wish to be called 


Iroro Umude. All 

former documents 

remain valid. Please 

public take note. 

JUMBO 

Addition of Name 


addressed as 

Akpevweoghene 

Jumbo, now wish to be 

known and addressed 

as Stephanie 

Akpevweoghene 

Jumbo. All former 




NUMA 



Derebebe Vivian 

Numa, now wish to be 

known and addressed 

as 

Mrs. 

Derebebeatede Vivian 

Inaibo. All former 




VANGUARD CLASSIFIED 

OBOKARE 



M a r y j a n e 

Orighomisan 

Obokare, now wish to 

be known and 


M a r y j a n e 

Orighomisan 

Onwuka. All former 




OBIEZE 


address as Joy 

Omamuyovwi 

Aghoghovwia, now 

wish to be known as 

Mrs Joy Omamuyovwi 

Obieze. All former 


valid. Zenith bank and 

general public please 

note. 

AIGBOGUN 



Ebanehita Christiana 

Aigbogun, now wish to 

be known and 


Ebanehita Christiana 

Ohai. All former 




CHUKWUMA 



Chukwuma Blessing, 



Orungbe Blessing 

Chioma. All former 




ONAEMOR 


addressed as 

Onaemor Edor 

Oghenefejiro, now 


addressed as 

Oghenetega 

Oghenefejiro Anne. 


remain valid. General 

public please take 

note. 

SOLOMON 



Jennifer Oyowe 

Solomon, now wish to 

be known and 


Jubril Tosan Jennifer. 


remain valid. General 

public please take 

note. 

AKINOLA 


addressed as Akinola 

Olajumoke Julianah, 


and addressed as 

Adegbola Olajumoke 

Julianah. All former 




ETETUVWE 

I, formerly known as Miss 

Hosanna Igbunuoghene 

Etetuvwe, now wish to be 

know as Mrs 

Joy Hosanna 

Igbunuoghene Paul 

Jagba. All documents 

bearing my former names 

remain valid. The general 

public and Zenith and Eco 

Banks should please take 

note. 

ORUH 


addressed as 

Eyinanaotuemi 

Matthew Oruh, now 


addressed as 

Eyinanaotuemi 

Pereowe Matthew 

Baker. All former 




ANIMADU 



Animadu Joy, now 



Osademe Gikanwa 

Joy. All former 


valid. Federal Medical 

Centre, Asaba and 

general public please 

take note. 

EDEMA 


addressed as Eric 

Omasan Edema, now 


addressed as Eric 

Ugeolomaryon 

Omasan. All former 




SPACE 

FOR SALE 

Train 7 requires fresh 

investments in 

upstream— NLNG 

•...says Nigeria'll slide in global 

ranking without new FIDs 

By Michael Eboh 

THE 

Nigerian 

Liquefied Natural 

Gas Company, NLNG, 

weekend, stated that 

fresh investments are 

required in the upstream 

petroleum industry in the 

next couple of months to 

complement its proposed 

Train 7. 

Speaking during a visit 

of the Minister of State for 

Petroleum Resources, 

Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, to the 

NLNG plant complex in 

Bonny Island, General 

Manager in charge of 

Production of the 

company, Mr. Tayo 

Oginni, said the fresh 

upstream investment was 

required to meet the 

expected demand of 

feedstock that will 

emerge as a result of the 

setting up of an additional 

LNG train. 

According to Oginni, 

with the additional LNG 

train, 1.15 billion standard 

cubic feet of gas per day 

and associated 

condensates will be 

required as feedstock. 

He said: “Fresh 

investments in the 

upstream petroleum 

sector are needed to 

match the NLNG Train 7 

investment, to meet 

demand for feedstock.” 

He further warned that 

if no new investments 

and Final Investment 

Decision, FID, is made in 

the next couple of months, 

Nigeria will drop from its 

current fourth position to 

12th in the world by 2025, 

in terms of global gas 

supply. 

Gains of Train 7 

He stated that Train 7, 

its proposed expansion, 

will bring about a 35 

percent growth in 

Nigeria’s LNG output, 

create 8,000 jobs, build 

capacity for small scale 

LNGs and increase 

domestic LPG supply to 

about 0.5 million tonnes 

per annum. 

He said over the years, 

the NLNG had 

generated over $100 

billion in revenue; $6.5 

billion in taxes; paid $13 

billion to the Federal 

Government, through the 

Nigerian National 

Petroleum Corporation, 

NNPC, for feed-gas 

purchase and $16 billion 

in dividends to the 


Oginni further stated 

that the NLNG had 

spent over $200 million in 

Corporate Social 

Responsibility, CSR, 

projects; promoted local 

content; increased its LNG 

carriers to 23; and 

delivered 4,380 cargoes of 

LNG as at July 2018. 

Also speaking, the 

Minister, Mr. Kachikwu, 

commended NLNG for its 

contributions to the 

Nigeria’s economy, stating 

that the Federal 

Government was looking 

to the company to provide 

a breeding ground for the 

future leadership of 

NNPC. 

He said: “The duties of a 

manager and leader 

include looking at your 

best staff and ask ‘what is 

the future?’ 

“I think this position for 

us, rather than just 

occupying a fairly high 

position in NLNG, must 

provide us with the 

breeding and training 

ground with the future 

leadership of NNPC, and 

that is the way it should be, 

so that we can benefit at 

the end of the day. 

“The career projections 

and trajectory of those who 

come here are very 

important to us, just as the 

career projection of those 

we send here. In those 

areas you have a direct 

relevance in what you do 

for us and in how we 

benefit from what you are 

doing.” 

...as minister advocates 

gas consumption 

Kachikwu also tasked 

the NLNG to concentrate 

efforts towards driving gas 

consumption in Nigeria, 

and not only focusing on 

production 

According to him, with 

the market beginning to 

thin out, with a lot more 

LNG investments coming 

out, even within Africa, the 

NLNG market was likely 

going to become very 

challenging. 

His words: “I am happy 

you noted that long term 

contracts are going out of 

fashion. You need to 

begin to invest in your 

own market. 

“I urge you to work with 

us on this trend to build 

infrastructure. The reality 

is that a huge amount of 

infrastructure is required 

to deploy LPG 

consumption in Nigeria 

and for the common man 

on the street; that is the 

most important item.” 

To drive local gas 

consumption, the minister 

stressed that efforts should 

be geared towards creation 

of distribution centres, and 

also in the creation of 

incentives for people to buy 

gas at the right price.











YOUR LUCK TODAY 

By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139 

GEMINI: Your creativity quotient within your working arena 

will today be enhanced. You’ll be blamed if you keep official 

issues secrets from your challenges at work. 

CANCER: After a few tension soaked days, you’ll have the 

needed opportunity to look through windows of the world and 

have your way as well. Magnetic and/or magic days is predicted 

for lovers today. 

LEO: Even if you continue to work under pressure via increased 

workload, you will have good results to show for your efforts 

today. Be steadfast. 

VIRGO: Better than yesterday. And the more co-operative you 

are today the better for you. Those of you travelling for love are 

in for an exciting day. 

LIBRA: Those of you willing to let go hard feelings at work are 

for a progressive day to the betterment of your finances. Let go 

yesterday, move ahead. 

SCORPIO: Once again, you’ll have the needed opportunity to 

assert yourself to the administration of others. Both love and 

financial success can be yours with efforts. Reason with your 

tried and trusted friends. 

L E I S U R E 

TAKE HEART — ELLA RANDLE 

TERROR MUDA in “Never say goodbye” 


“Change your thoughts, change your life” — WayneDyer 

Resistance to anything is like trying to change the outside 

pictures after it has been transmitted. It’s a futile pursuit. You 

have to go within and emit a new signal with your thoughts and 

feelings to create the new pictures. You are the Master of your 

life, don’t become mesmerized in things, if they are not what 

you want. Take responsibility for them, make light of them if you 

can, and let them go. Then think new thoughts of what you 

want, feel them, and be grateful that it is done. 

— Ella Randle 

SAYINGS OF 

OUR PEOPLE 

An army of 

sheep led by a 

lion can defeat 

an army of lions 

led by a 

sheep. ~ Ghanaian 

proverb 

By Kola Fayemi 

SAGITTARIUS: You can make it a successful day with positive 

approach on your part. You will be in a better position to 

defuse tension within your working arena. Try to be more ambitious. 

CAPRICORN: Yes! You’re not scared a bit even, when opposition 

and/or competition come your way but, if you give in to 

diplomatic approach, you’ll fare better today. 

AQUARIUS: Pressure that came your way suddenly will give 

way unexpectedly, today, to the betterment of your course. The 

more financially ambitious you are today, the better for you. Be 

steadfast. 

PISCES: You sincerely believe in intelligent argument or discussion. 

And if you allow your ability to be diplomatic come to 

play today, you’ll be better for it. Enjoy your love life. 

ARIES: You’ll tend to become both creative and persuasive to 

the administration of others. Then those who’ve been resisting 

secret love may slip suddenly and become excited. 

DUDU in “ROLLING HOT” By A.O. OLAIDE 

TAURUS: Even if opposition persists, supports you are getting 

from the influential people will be enough to see you through. 

Yet, the more cooperative you are the better. 

ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLING 

Send your date and place of birth to the Astr 

trological 

Counselling, P.M.B 100 

007, Apapa, Lagos 

What’s my day? 

Dear Joshua, 

According to the date I was born I should be a Libran by my star 

but most of the time when I read horoscopes written by both yourself 

and foreign Astrologers Scorpio always applicable to me, 

why?Kindly tell me how the planets lined up when I was born and 

the day of the week I was born but don’t publish my date of birth. 

Lucky, Mina. 

Dear Lucky, 

You were born on a Sunday. You were wrong to have taken Libra 

as your Sun sign because the Sun was placed in early degree of 

Scorpio together with many other heavenly bodies. Then with the 

Moon in Libra when you were born will equally be influential in 

your characteristics build up but, you are mainly a Scorpio born 

person 

YOUR HOROSCOPE DATA 

Day of Birth = Sunday 

Sun Sign = Scorpio. Sun in Zero Degree of Scorpio 

Moon Sign = Libra: Moon in 5th Degree of Libra 

Mercury in 12th Degree of Scorpio 

Venus in Zero Degree of Sagittarius 

Mars in 1st Degree of Aquarius 

Jupiter in 29th Degree of Cancer 

Saturn in 10th Degree of Scorpio 

Uranus in 27th Degree of Cancer 

Neptune in 25th Degree of Libra 

Pluto in 26th Degree of Leo 

North Node in 8th Degree of Capricorn 

South Node in 8th Degree of Cancer 

No planet in earth spar sign, one in available, two in fire, three in 

air, four in cardinal, fixed and water star signs hosted five planets 

each. 

PHYSICAL INFLUENCE = 50% 

NON-PHYSICAL INFLUENCE =50% 

PLANET AT HOME = NONE 

ANALYSIS OF THE HOROSCOPE DATA 

You are both an intelligent and emotional person. And as there 

was planet at home when you were born, too many ideas will always 

struggle for prominent place in your mind, thus decision 

making is difficult but most times, your intelligence comes to the 

rescue. 

Certainly, you appear to other as a gentle person who can be 

mistaken for soft fellow but your inner-self is the personality with a 

steel like will power. You are the consistent type who may find it 

difficult to change once you have made up your mind as indicated 

by distribution of the planets as written out in paragraph two of this 

exercise. One major challenge you have been battling for a very 

long time is constant worries, some times, necessarily and the other 

time, uncalled for, as indicated by conjunction Mercury and Saturn 

formed when you were born. 

VIRGINIA 

HOME & ABROAD 

dadadekola@yahoo.com 

By Lawrence Akapa

46—VANGUARD, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2018 

08070524223 

Stories by 

Osa Mbonu-Amadi 

Writers have no hiding 

place. No one 

understands one better 

than one who reads what 

one writes. I have a very 

deep understanding of 

who she is because I read 

her. 

First, she is an extremely 

beautiful woman, though 

you may think otherwise 

since beauty, they say, is in 

the eyes of the beholder. 

What is encased inside 

that beautiful body is more 

charming than the beauty. 

Adekunbi has one of the 

most creative and elevated 

minds you could ever 

encounter. As a writer, her 

engaging poetic pieces are 

both enjoyable and 

instructive. Her spirit, 

perceivable from her works, 

is vibrant and full of zest. 

Her narratives reveal a 

courageous woman who 

has already successfully 

trod the sands of time. 

Through Adekunbi's 

works too, we see a happy 

personality, a woman who 

had exuded life in life and 

still does. Adekunbi is 

blessed too. Discounting 

maxim that no one has 

everything, Adekunbi 

should lack nothing. 

A woman whose heart 

radiates love, she loves 

people especially 

children. Her parents are 

Sir Gabriel Akinmade 

Taylor and Alice Edowaiye 

Taylor. She studied 

English in Education at 

the prestigious Obafemi 

Awolowo University Ile-Ife. 

She also studied at City 

University Business 

School, Barbican, London, 

UK. As an entrepreneur, 

her interests span across 

the hospitality industry 

and education. 

She loves God, music, 

drama, dance and poetry. 

In her book, Random 

musing: A collection of 

stories & poems, we read 

one of her masterpieces, in 

fact the first poem in this 

anthology; 

Strangely Yours, 

Sincerely His. 

Invaded by roaches my 

greatest phobia 

Car visit by a lizard, hope he 

enjoyed the ride 

Fiery enemy arrows, painful 

numerous bruises 

Strange happenings, 

inexplicable but true. 

Abused, threats and 

concocted falsities 

Derailed, mocked, hated for 

no just reason 

No matter how hard you try, 

they can't be pleased 

So painful, so emotionally 

upsetting for me. 

I dare not go into the nitty 

gritty 

But some questions stick to 

my simple mind 

•Adekunbi Akin-Taylor 

The random musing of 

Adekunbi Akin-Taylor 

…and her collection of stories & poems 

Why? Oh why are things 

falling apart? 

Shouldn't blood be thicker 

than water? 

How can your so-called 

"blood" go that far? 

So far as even to wish you 

dead! 

Yet, everything under the 

sun is vanity! 

What does anyone gain 

from wickedness? 

But my life story is a tale of 

wonder 

Of survival and 

overcoming against all 

odds 

The God I serve has never 

once failed me 

He gave me beauty for 

ashes, from zero to hero. 

Even as I write to celebrate 

my life 

I wrote this first poem in 

open testimony 

Of the highs, the lows, the 

fears, the joy 

My God and King, I give 

you thanks. 

Welcome to my world my 

dear friends 

Strangely yours, but 

sincerely His. 

When Providence 

bestowed it upon my 

shoulders to write the 

Foreword of this 

exceptional collection, I 

tasted her words and found 

them so delicious. Moved, 

taken hold by a pang of 

emotion, I blazed out these 

words: 

This is perhaps the 

greatest challenge of my 

life as a writer - that I, a 

prose writer who is no 

great fan of poetry, should 

be required to write a 

foreword for a collection of 

stories and poems by a 

great poet. I shirk not from 

this responsibility. 

Walking through this 

paradise titled: Random 

Musing, the reader cannot 

but experience the vast, if 

not infinite field of the 

poet's sources of 

inspirations: God, 

homeland, love, birth, 

death, salvation, offspring, 

nature, music, slavery, 

parenthood, social media, 

misappropriation of 

political power, inflicted 

poverty, hope, justice and 

injustice, sincerity and 

insincerity, compassion, 

friends, birthday, etc. The 

list is just so diverse and 

endless, attesting to the 

bottomlessness of the 

author's mind. 

Through her poems, 

the author bequeaths to 

us eternal values of 

independent variables 

such as "finding new 

meanings even to things of 

old", the necessity to 

"journey back and reinvent 

life"; of random 

musing's search for 

answers about people, life, 

happenings, events and 

fights; of sermon on the 

values of love, liberation, 

restoration and freedom. 

And "even though we can't 

turn back the hands of the 

time (or the clock), she 

says, we can wind it up 

again. 

The author's creative 

adaptation of the classic 

song, Que Sera Sera by 

Doris Day on page 30, is a 

masterpiece and good 

nourishment for both the 

spirit and soul. 

Unlike many poets who 

erroneously believe that a 

poem must be tasking to 

understand before it could 

be passed as a poetic work, 

Adekunbi's works here are 

easy to understand and 

therefore reader-friendly. 

This makes "Random 

Musing" suitable for 

schools literature and for 

the pleasure reader. 

Nigeria and South- 

Africa to partner on 

development of arts 

and crafts - envoy 

The development of 

Nigeria's Art and 

Crafts sector will now take 

centre stage amongst 

other issues at the next 

edition of the Nigeria- 

South Africa bi-national 

commission slated for 

later this year. 

This was revealed during 

a courtesy call on the 

South African High 

Commission in Abuja by 

the Director-General, 

National Council for Arts 

and Culture, NCAC, 

Otunba Segun Runsewe 

and his management team. 

Addressing the 

delegation from NCAC, 

the South African Deputy 

High Commissioner to 

Nigeria, Bobby Moroe 

expressed his delight at 

the visit saying it was 

auspicious as both 

countries had already 

signed several MoUs to 

boost bilateral cooperation, 

adding that art and crafts’ 

development will now be 

prioritised in the next 

Nigeria-South Africa binational 

commission 

where both countries will 

also seek areas of mutual 

interest in energy and 

agriculture. 

Mr. Moroe reaffirmed 

that the visit of Runsewe 

and his team will signal a 

new era for the Culture and 

Arts industry for both 

nations, stressing that the 

Nigeria-South Africa Binational 

Commission is a 

veritable platform where 

issues of development are 

deliberated upon followed 

by 

strategic 

implementation plans, 

recalling that in 2001, the 

two countries signed an 

MoU to improve bilateral 

relations. 

The envoy revealed 

that at least, 34 agreements 

will be reached in the 

forthcoming Nigeria-South 

Africa Bi-national 

Commission where 


Buhari will be in 

attendance, noting that the 

Art and Crafts sector will be 

a major beneficiary in this 

year's outing. 

Reacting to the envoy's 

remarks, Otunba 

Runsewe thanked his host 

for receiving him and his 

management team, 

observing that South 

Africa was a country with 

great organisational 

capabilities and vast 

resources, intimating that 

his visit was informed by 

the need to gain support 

as the NCAC plans to take 

Commissioners of Culture 

in Nigeria to a farm trip 

in South Africa as a way 

of exposing them to the 

high standards that his 

country has attained, 

which, according to the 

DG, will translate to major 

gains in the arts and 

culture industry in 

Nigeria. 

Runsewe also seized 

the opportunity to intimate 

the envoy on the 

forthcoming International 

Arts and Crafts Expo, 

INAC, which will be held 

in Abuja in November this 

year requesting that South 

Africa should maximize the 

platform to showcase her 

rich cultural heritage just 

like other countries around 

the globe that have 

indicated interest to 

participate in the exhibition. 

Mr. Moroe commended 

the INAC initiative, 

promising to interface with 

the authorities back home 

with a view to ensuring 

South Africa's full 

participation. He thanked 

Otunba Runsewe for the 

locally made gifts of laptop 

and ipad pouches which 

the DG presented to him. 

The Director-General also 

decorated the S.A envoy 

and his staff with the 

official NCAC pinup 

thereby conferring on him 

the dual status of South 

Africa and NCAC 

Ambassador. 

•Director-General, NCAC, and President, World 

Crafts Council, Africa Region, Otunba Segun 

Runsewe, OON, decorating and presenting gifts 

to the South African Deputy High Commissioner 

to Nigeria, Bobby Moroe, during a courtesy call 

on the diplomat recently in Abuja.

VANGUARD, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2018 —47 

Stories by 

Osa Mbonu-Amadi 

There is a close affinity 

between culture, arts, and 

tourism. A sound tourism education 

must of necessity have arts 

and cultural contents and viceversa. 

With Mrs. Chika Balogun, 

Director-General of the 

National Institute for Hospitality 

& Tourism, piloting the affairs of 

NIHOTOUR, her experience as 

one time project anchor in the 

celebration of Nigeria’s culture 

week in China and in Brazil, and 

her membership of the National 

Heritage Council and 

Endowment for the Arts, will no 

doubt come handy in the 

fulfillment of stakeholders’ expectations 

of a synergy between 

arts, culture, and tourism. 

But getting tourism education 

right has always been a major 

challenge in the quest to get 

Nigeria blossom in global 

tourism business. Indeed, home 

front tourism education has no 

focus and lacks sustainable 

definition. It was from zero to zero 

until Chika Balogun came to the 

scene almost four years ago. 

For over 30 years, 1987 to be 

precise, the birth and successful 

lobby by Nigeria to serve as 

creative tourism education hub in 

West Africa powered by 

International Labour Organisation 

and other United Nations 

agencies, met with brick walls of 

ineptitude and organisational 

dislocation. 

The Institute had mushroomed 

early at formation under the 

contraption of Nigerian Tourism 

Development Corporation, 

NTDC, which could not help its 

overall objective of producing 

trained tourism hands to service 

The importance of arts & culture 

content in tourism education 

…Chika Balogun as game changer 

the emerging hospitality and 

tourism enterprises across West 

Africa. It was then a mere department. 

Before Chika Balogun came, 

the National Institute for 

Hospitality & Tourism, 

NIHOTOUR, hemorrhaged, not 

only from poor funding but also 

from misinterpretation and 

misapplication of its core values 

Within four years, 

NIHOTOUR rebranded, 

won the 

hearts of stakeholders, 

fronted 

democratized 

process of tourism 

education and 

playing the role of 

tourism education 

incubator and 

facilitator 

and mandate. NIHOTOUR bled 

from poor vision and mandate 

execution, making it fit only as 

conduit pipe to waste and fritter 

away government meager funding 

for tourism education. 

Significantly, the Institute lacks 

the statutory powers to husband 

effectively tourism education 

within Nigeria's federating units, 

•Mrs. Chika Balogun, Director-General of the National Institute 

for Hospitality & Tourism, NIHOTOUR 

having sadly lost its frontier privilege 

in West Africa. 

From the Bagauda Kano head 

office, signs of imminent collapse 

ScAN tags artworks unveiled by Lagos govt 

as failed public sculptures 

Worried by poor quality of 

public sculptures recently 

unveiled by Lagos State Government, 

Sculptors Association of 

Nigeria, ScAN, an umbrella 

body of professional sculptors in 

Nigeria, both in studio practice 

and academia, has described the 

artworks as failed public sculptures 

and unacceptable memorial 

statues. According to a statement, 

the association said ‘unless 

intended, the works are absolutely 

a mockery of the sculpture 

profession as they do not 

represent standard specifications 

of public sculpture.’ It added that 

the figurines are not suitable for 

public display as they do not 

represent the high standard and 

quality of sculpture practice in 

Nigeria. The statement was 

signed by its President, Oladapo 

Afolayan and General Secretary, 

Dr. Nelson Edewor. 

The public works the 

association described as 

substandard 

and 

embarrassments to the 

profession are M.K.O Abiola, 

Gani Fawehinmi, Obafemi 

Awolowo and Fela Anikulapo 

Kuti statues in Lagos. It said that 

in artistic evaluation, these 

gigantic absurdities present 

advanced delinquency of basic 

norms of aesthetic conventions as 

they are indeed a mishap in 

material and technical 

appropriation showcasing a 

colossal waste of resources. 

“The executions of these 

projects have unwittingly become 

counterproductive as their 

formal presentations defeat the 

very purpose for which they are 

created; an embarrassment of 

aesthetic stimulation. While 

ScAN may not want to question 

the procedures adopted for the 

awards of these projects, it is 

disheartening to note that the 

execution of these statues leave 

much to be desired, as they display 

a mockery of what they 

mimic to present. Of course, the 

devil in the detail is none other 

than an affront of incompetence, 

promoting the impunity of nonrespect 

for due process. In artistic 

evaluation, these gigantic 

absurdities present advanced 

delinquency of basic norms of 

aesthetic conventions. 

stared this all important tourism 

training and certification school 

in the face. The feeble attempt to 

relocate the operational structure 

to Abuja under Munzali Dantata 

was a mere sleaze to confound 

the beggar status to which the 

school was reduced to. 

Desirous of breathing life into 

the 'dead' Institute, the 

government brought Chika 

Balogun, a supposedly 'green 

horn' to superintend a fresh start 

for NIHOTOUR. Balogun was 

then not known in Nigeria's 

tourism circles. The industry 

players kicked and waited for 

President Buhari to push her out 

with the winds of change blowing 

across the entire national 

administrative environment. 

It was a dream aborted as Bu- 

hari held on to Chika Balogun to 

break the backbone of 30 years 

of neglect and lack of direction 

for NIHOTOUR. Indeed, Chika 

Balogun's forays into the 

Institute's strategic rebirth met 

with disdain and at some point, 

instigated tourism public and 

stakeholders' bitterness and 

dismay. 

Chika Balogun held on to her 

vision to run through the race 

with unexplainable humility, 

hard work and stride to make a 

difference. First, she had to tour 

the over 14 training centres of 

NIHOTOUR across Nigeria, 

from Kano to Enugu, Osun to 

Benue, all by road and at the risk 

of her life, a passion very uncommon 

with women in government 

or even men who see their 

position as means to fly first 

class. 

Soon and within four years, 

NIHOTOUR rebranded, won the 

hearts of stakeholders, fronted 

democratised process of tourism 

education and playing the role 

of tourism education incubator 

and facilitator. From providing 

the needed parameters for 

standardization of services in the 

sector, NIHOTOUR under Chika 

Balogun brought most states in 

the federation to key into the 

gains of having tourism training 

schools and need to create 

youth tourism empowerment 

centres. 

The Project Smart Jobs in collaboration 

with Consolidated 

Alliance Group attests to Chika 

Balogun's futuristic vision to 

transform tourism education 

through the private sector. Today, 

this effort has turned out over 

1,000 employable and self-employed 

influencers in Edo State. 

Enugu, Benue, Bayelsa, Kano, 

Lagos, Plateau and other states 

are basking in this prosperity. 

In Nigeria’s tourism space, 

Chika Balogun has rebuilt the 

battered image of NIHOTOUR. 

An orator with strategic 

academic background from Kent 

University in the UK and Harvard 

University, this University 

of Jos alumna has skills in 

project management and construction 

which she deployed to 

re-establish NIHOTOUR as Nigeria's 

prime tourism training 

and certification citadel. 

Runsewe addresses 32 countries, changes narratives on Nigeria 

The Director-General of the 

National Council for Arts and 

Culture made another landmark 

on Thursday, July 26, 2018 

when he addressed 32 countries 

from around the world on the 

need to change the narratives of 

culture in Nigeria. 

Otunba Segun Runsewe 

seized the historic moment to 

redefine Nigerian culture during 

a dinner boasting 32 

ambassadors from all over the 

world with his message, reaf- 

•Otunba Runsewe & Prof. Davies Ugba, Nigeria's Ambassador 

to Russia during Russia 2018 World Cup. 

firming the fact that culture is 

Nigeria’s new oil. 

Delivering a welcome address 

at the pre-INAC diplomatic 

dinner for ambassadors, a follow 

up to the International Arts and 

Crafts Expo, INAC (formerly 

called African Arts and Crafts 

Expo, AFAC) held at the 

Sheraton Hotel and Towers in 

Abuja, Runsewe said amongst 

other things that his idea is to 

further integrate Nigeria’s 

diverse cultures with countries 

from across the world with a view 

to leveraging on the abundant 

potentials of the Arts and Culture 

sector in Nigeria. 

Otunba Runsewe observed that 

the forthcoming Expo slated for 

November this year which has 

now been rechristened INAC, 

will be organised at a salubrious, 

fully air-conditioned indoor 

exhibition hall in Abuja, devoid 

of the vagaries of weather 

conditions while additional 

components will be added in line 

with international standards. 

He was positive that countries 

from around the world will now 

have space to showcase their 

cultural endowments. He revealed 

that several countries 

have already indicated interest 

on dedicating specific days to 

showcase their unique cultural 

offerings. 

Runsewe also used the 

opportunity to introduce the 

novel idea of hosting members of 

the diplomatic community to a 

special night of music, dance, 

games, food and lots more 

adding that an event like the 

Diplomatic Community Night 

will create a platform for cultural 

exchanges between Nigeria and 

several countries from all over 

the world. 

The idea, according to the 

NCAC helmsman, is for the 

ambassadors to use the 

opportunity to enjoy Nigerian 

cuisines, traditional musical 

presentation, local games and 

several other culture-friendly 

entertainments Nigeria has to 

offer the world.


Chinonso, road accident victim 

seeks N7m to walk again 

By Chioma Obinna 

URGENT intervention 

is required if 31- 

year-old Chinonso Judith 

Ericson is to walk again. 

Both her legs and spinal 

cord were crushed in a 

road accident which 

almost claimed her life in 

January 2008. 

Chinonso was involved 

in an auto crash in 

Abeokuta while returning 

to Lagos from the 

University of Port 

Harcourt, UNIPORT, 

Rivers State. 

At the time, she was a 

final-year student of 

Foreign Languages but 

like a bad dream, her 

hopes of graduating 

crashed. 

She has since been bedridden, 

suffered rejection 

and abandonment even 

with the threat of 

amputation of both limbs. 

Narrating her story, 

Chinonso stated: “I have 

been rejected by two 

hospitals. My parents 

then took me to a 

traditional medicine 

home. But my problem 

was compounded while I 

was there.” 

Her immediate family 

has spent over N5 

million, even her father 

died heartbroken one 

year after the accident, 

leaving her mother, 

Comfort, discomforted. 

Chinonso has missed 

the chances of graduating 

from UNIPORT, but, even 

in her trouble, she reenrolled 

for the JAMB 

examination and secured 

admission to study Peace 

Studies and Conflict 

Resolution at the National 

Open University of 

Nigeria, NOUN. She is in 

her final year, but her 

condition has deteriorated 

and she needs urgent 

medical attention. 

A report from Royal 

Pinnacle Clinic, Surulere, 

Lagos signed by Dr 

Nwosu James, said on 

presentation, the patient 

was ill-looking, emaciated 

and in obvious painful 

distress. 

“She could neither 

stand nor move the lower 

limbs. There was 

extensive cellulitis of both 

lower limbs up to the 

knees and feet with foulsmelling 

pus oozing out 

from several open/ 

infected wounds on both 

lower limbs.” 

While combining 

treatment and studies, 

she has undergone two 

* Chinonso Judith Ericson 

surgeries and has been 

told that a third surgery 

examination. 

“During the 

would be needed for her examination, she 

to be fit again. 

Her words: “In 2016, at 

my school’s function, Dr 

Yolanda George Davies, a 

UN Ambassador and 

discovered that the drug 

I was taking was killing 

my cells. She became my 

personal doctor and 

changed my treatment 

Founder of Bethel and within a space of one 

Foundation, took interest 

in my case and invited me 

over to her hospital for 

year, I started having 

some sensation in my legs 

and blood started flowing. 

Liver Cancer: Experts lament low knowledge of hepatitis among 

Nigerians 

By Gabriel Olawale 

THE Association of 

Medical Laboratory 

Scientists of Nigeria, Surulere 

chapter, has decried 

the low knowledge 

of viral hepatitis among 

Nigerians despite the fact 

that the disease is a leading 

cause of death. 

Speaking during a 

health talk and free hepatitis 

B and C screening 

exercise held at Itire Ikate 

LCDA in Lagos, the association's 

chairman, Mr. 

Otu Patrick regretted that 

while mortality from tuberculosis 

and HIV is on the 

decline, deaths from viral 

hepatitis is increasing as 

reported by the World 

Health Organisation. 

Patrick said that an estimated 

22 million Nigerians 

are infected with Hepatitis 

B and four million 

with Hepatitis C, but most 

of them are unaware of 

their status. 

“The cases of viral hepatitis 

are more common 

amongst people aged 21- 

40 years. In our clime, the 

risk factors include local 

circumcision, exchange of 

sharp objects, scarifications 

on the body. Other 

“But sometime in 

November, the pain 

resurfaced and I can no 

longer move even with 

crutches. During a 

medical check, it was 

discovered that the 

wound has been infected 

and has been 

overstretched. The doctor 

said I am due for two 

corrective surgeries in 

India at the cost of N7 

million.” 

Her lower limbs require 

further corrective surgery, 

which might include skin 

grafting and bone 

lengthening. 

Chinonso is appealing 

to kind-hearted 

Nigerians, corporate and 

humanitarian 

organisations and the 

government to come to her 

aid. 

If you are touched, 

make your donation to 

Ericson Chinonso 

Judith, 

GTB 

0137719366, or call 

07063451934 for more 

details. 

• From left: President, Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria, AMLSN, 

Surulere chapter, Mr. Otu Patrick; Lagos State Secretary of AMLSN, Olumide Fadipe; 

Lagos State Branch Chairman of AMLSN, Monsuru Adegoke and Laboratory Director, 

Union Diagnostics and Clinical Services Plc, Yaba, during a health talk and free 

hepatitis B and C screening held at Itire Ikate LCDA in Lagos. 

predisposing factors include 

surgical procedures, 

deliveries that occur at 

home and blood transfusion 

to mention a few.” 

Corroborating his 

views, the Lagos State 

Secretary of AMLSN, 

Olumide Fadipe stated: 

“Viruses usually need a 

living cell to help them 

reproduce and without a 

living host, they will die 

off, but hepatitis B is so 

stubborn to the extent 

Free foot checks for 

diabetes patients 

...As Rainbow Medical Centre clocks 5 

By Uchechukwu Afamefune 

PATIENTS living with diabetes will receive free foot 

checks during the 5th Annual Diabetes Foot and Podiatry 

Workshop being organised at Dover Hotel, Lekki 

Phase 1 by Rainbow Specialist Medical Centre, a private 

hospital with focus on the management of diabetes 

and other endocrine and metabolic conditions. 

In a statement, Dr. Afoke Isiavwe, the Medical Director 

of the Centre and Coordinator of the Diabetes Podiatry 

Initiative Nigeria, said the workshop is being 

organised to stem the steady increase of diabetes foot, 

a major complication of diabetes mellitus in the country. 

Isiavwe said the event is designed to equip Nigerian 

doctors, other health workers and people living 

with diabetes with basic knowledge and skills on diabetes 

foot care. 

The rate of amputation among Nigerians living with 

diabetes has been reported to be as high as 53.2 per 

cent of the number of people with foot ulcer in some 

centres. This makes diabetes foot the most common 

cause of non-traumatic amputation in the lower extremities 

in Nigeria and elsewhere in the world. 

The 2018 edition of the workshop will be conducted 

by international training faculty from the World Walk 

Foundation, Jamaica Chapter. 

It will also feature a two-day diabetes and hypertension 

series for primary care health practitioners, 

“the first port of call for persons living with diabetes. 

“It is important to equip these group of healthcare 

workers with necessary skills in these two common 

conditions to detect, initiate correct treatment and 

also know when to refer patients for further care.” 

that it can stay up to six 

months outside the living 

host and ready to attack, 

and the liver happens to 

be victim. 

“If you are a patient or 

relative of a patient that 

needs blood transfusion, 

it is your right to ask 

whether the blood has 

being screened or not. 

In Lagos State, before 

blood is transfused, it 

must have logo of Lagos 

State Government approved 

screening centre. 

If you want to take injection, 

it is your right to ascertain 

that a new syringe 

is opened in your 

presence.” 

In his remark, Secretary, 

Guild of Medical 

Laboratory Directors, Lagos 

State Branch, Akujuobi 

Igwe said the danger 

in neglecting Hepatitis 

B was the risk of liver 

damage or cancer of 

the liver. 

He said that Hepatitis 

B is highly preventable 

through vaccination, 

screening, early detection 

and treatment. 

“Hepatitis B is one of 

the vaccines given to 

children and adults are 

encouraged to determine 

their status and if negative, 

they are encouraged 

to get vaccinated. 

“When you are vaccinated, 

you are protected 

from the virus. Even for 

those who are positive, 

there are steps to take to 

protect the liver, one of 

them is to consult specialists. 

Activities such as excessive 

consumption of 

alcohol or taking herbs 

indiscriminately could 

worsen the health of a 

patient withHepatitis B. 

Hepatitis B is an infection 

of your liver. It can 

cause scarring of the organ, 

liver failure and 

cancer. It can be fatal if 

it isn't treated. It spreads 

when people come in 

contact with the blood, 

open sores, or body fluids 

of someone who has 

the virus.

Understanding APC and the crisis of defections 

By Rueben Abati 

COMRADE 

Adams 

Oshiomhole, the 

“factional” leader of the ruling All 

Progressives Congress (APC) has 

reportedly asked Senate President 

Abubakar Bukola Saraki to 

resign his position as Senate 

President. What exactly does the 

Comrade want Saraki to resign 

from- the Senate Presidency or 

even his membership of the Senate 

having won election into the 

Assembly in the first place on the 

platform of the APC? Oshiomhole 

also probably expects that other 

members of the APC who are 

occupying elective and 

appointive positions will also 

tender letters of resignation, having 

defected from the ruling APC. 

It is either the embattled party 

Chairman has not adverted his 

mind to the provisions of the 

Nigerian Constitution on party 

matters or the party’s legal adviser 

is not doing his job. The gale of 

defections from the ruling APC - 

16 Senators, including the Senate 

President, three Governors, 37 

members of the House of 

Representatives, the Nigerian 

Ambassador to South Africa, the 

National Publicity Secretary of 

the APC, and looks like more to 

come in the days ahead, including 

Ministers who may be preparing 

their letters of resignation, their 

political principals having 

deserted the party – raises a 

number of questions, political, 

moral and legal. I intend to 

address some of these in order to 

assist the leaders of the APC to 

stop acting as cry-babies and to 

attempt a clarification of the 

nature and character of the 

tsunami that seems now certain, 

if unchecked, to sweep the APC 

out of power. 

With regard to the Saraki 

defection, the language of the 

Constitution is very clear and 

specific in Section 50(1) (a) 

wherein it is stated that there shall 

be “a President and a Deputy 

President of the Senate, who shall 

be elected by the members of the 

House from among themselves”. 

The same expression is retained 

in Section 50 (1)(b) as applicable 

to the House of Representatives, 

and the emphasis is on the phrase 

– “from among themselves.” The 

Constitution thus does not say that 

the Senate President or the 

Speaker and their Deputies must 

come from the ruling or majority 

party; indeed any of the members 

of the Assembly can occupy the 

mentioned positions once their 

colleagues choose them “from 

among themselves.” Saraki does 

not therefore have to resign his 

Senate Presidency because he has 

left the APC, that party also cannot 

order him to resign. The only way 

he or the Speaker of the House of 

Representatives can be removed 

is stated in Section 50 of the 

Constitution and in the present 

circumstance Section 50(2)(c) is 

of particular interest - it prescribes 

removal only “by the votes of not 

less than two-thirds majority of the 

members of that House”. 

Can the APC at the moment 

muster up to “two-thirds 

majority” in either the Red or the 

Green Chamber to remove the 

Senate President or the Speaker 

and their Deputies? I don’t think 

so. There are probably more 

persons in both Houses who have 

also resolved to defect from the 

APC but who are still physically 

identifying with the party in order 

Rueben Abati 

to stay behind as fifth columnists, 

or simply because of a lingering 

lack of clarity about their fortunes 

in their local political 

environments should they defect 

at a wrong time. 

I think Comrade Oshiomhole 

also needs to be reminded that 

Nigeria is not running a 

parliamentary system; the 

agenda of party supremacy that 

he has been pushing, and which 

probably makes him sound like 

a cane-welding party chairman - 

dishing out Stalin-like 

instructions to other party 

members, is only bound to 

alienate others, and effectively 

turn him into an undertaker. A 

Constitutional democracy such as 

we run requires greater inclusion, 

horse-trading and statesmanship 

rather than the dominant rhetoric 

of arrogance. 

Those who have defected from 

the APC also need not lose any 

sleep, particularly members of the 

legislative houses. Specifically, 

Section 68 of the 1999 

Constitution outlines the 

circumstances under which a 

member of the Senate or House 

of Representatives shall vacate his 

seat; the most relevant to this 

commentary being Section 68 (1) 

(g) which permits defections from 

one political party to the other in 

the event of a division in the 

political party of which a person 

is a member, or the merger of two 

or more political parties or 

factions. Those APC members 

who are protesting the defection 

of the Senate President and others 

cannot deny that there is a division 

within the APC or that the party is 

now divided into factions – the 

Oshiomhole-led faction, the Engr. 

Buba Galadima-led faction better 

known as the Reformed APC and 

the Saraki faction, which has now 

returned to the PDP. 

However, whereas Section 

68(1) (g) offers such protection to 

defecting members of the 

The Constitution 

thus does not say that 

the Senate President 

or the Speaker and 

their Deputies must 

come from the ruling 

or majority party; indeed 

any of the 

members of the Assembly 

can occupy 

the mentioned positions 

once their colleagues 

choose 

them “from among 

themselves 

National Assembly, the Nigerian 

Constitution is silent on the matter 

of Governors who come to power 

and office on the platform of one 

political party and who while still 

in office choose to cross to another 

political party. This is the 

dilemma that is thrown up by the 

phrasing of Section 221, and 

perhaps the basis for 

Oshimohole’s request for Saraki’s 

resignation, even if the provision 

does not apply to him in the light 

of a reading of other sections. 

Section 221 states that: “No 

association, other than a political 

party shall canvass for votes for 

any candidate at any election or 

contribute to the funds of any 

political party or to the election 

expenses of any candidate at an 

election.” 

In other words, for the purposes 

of elections, the Constitution 

recognizes only political parties 

as the vehicle through which any 

candidate may seek elective 

office. In the absence of any 

provision for independent 

candidacy, nobody can seek office 

except through a political party, 

and hence the votes belong to the 

party and not the individual. It is 

political parties that canvass for 

Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2018 -- 49 

votes. The Governor or rather the 

candidate is therefore a trustee of 

the party. The question then is: can 

a trustee run away with the 

fundamental object of the trust, 

namely the position that he 

occupies? If and when he does so, 

it will appear that he has 

shortchanged his political party 

and the electorate. 

The only way to determine this, 

however, is through the court of 

law, and not the kind of self-help 

tactics that the APC seems to 

prefer. There have been reports 

that some members of the Senate 

are plotting to take over the 

National Assembly and 

Nicodemously impeach Senator 

Bukola Saraki. The leadership of 

the APC is advised to commit to 

due process, and not to encourage 

any illegal conduct. In Benue 

state, the Governor, Samuel 

Ortom has also complained that 

he is being harassed, and there 

has been an attempt by eight out 

of the 30 members of the State 

House of Assembly to impeach 

the Governor. The matter is now 

before the court. 

Injury to character 

The level of persecution, harassment 

and injury to character 

over the matter of defections from 

the APC is most strange. After all, 

the APC itself was a beneficiary of 

a similar development in 2013- 

2014, when members of the new 

PDP and APGA defected from 

their parties to join the APC coalition. 

Aminu Tambuwal, then 

Speaker of the House of Representatives 

received fulsome praise 

from then Presidential candidate 

Muhammadu Buhari for leading 

many PDP lawmakers to join 

the APC. Comrade Adams 

Oshiomhole also deployed his 

“eloquence” to encourage 

members of the PDP to join the 

APC. Since the APC got to power 

in 2015, many more members of 

the PDP have defected to the ruling 

party. APC leaders did not see 

anything wrong in this; they did 

not accuse the defecting PDP 

members of anti-party activities, 

so why should they complain now 

that they are being served a dose 

of their own medicine? Or are 

there other issues, within the ruling 

party, such as post-2015 financial 

reconciliation or the sharing of 

spoils, that the public needs to 

know so that we can be better 

informed? 

I say this because when you read 

the statements that have been 

made by those who have just 

defected from the party, you can 

only but be shocked. Engr. 

Galadima who was a major 

engineer of the 2015 APC victory 

is now engineering contempt and 

odium against the party. Governor 

Ortom has pointed to a failure of 

leadership within the party. 

Governor Tambuwal sounded 

very harsh as he talked about 

corruption, mismanagement of 

the economy, the spread of 

national insecurity and what he 

calls “prison-yard democracy.” 

The former APC National 

Publicity Secretary, Bolaji 

Abdullahi also issued a statement 

dripping with venom and 

contempt for a political party, 

which he had defended only a 

week earlier. Saraki’s anger is 

perhaps on the face of it, 

understandable – here was a man 

who from day one was not given 

any respite by the Buhari Presidency, 

here was a man who was 

criminalised by the same party he 

helped to build; he had to be saved 

by the Supreme Court of Nigeria, 

only to be labeled “an armed robber” 

subsequently. Like Saul on 

the way to Damascus, Saraki and 

others have now seen the light; like 

the Biblical prodigal son, they are 

all returning to the PDP, which Dino 

Melaye calls their “home”. It took 

the Peoples Democratic Party 

(PDP) 16 years to implode; it has 

taken the APC less than four years 

to reach the same point. 

In 2014, the PDP was divided, 

and confused as to how to handle 

the same situation such as this that 

has now arisen with the APC. 

There were members of the party 

who advised that the then Attorney 

General of the Federation 

should be asked to take the defecting 

five Governors of the time 

to court, and if that would be a 

long process, the President should 

declare a state of emergency in 

the affected states and have the 

Governors removed or impeached 

and sole administrators 

appointed in their place. Mohammed 

Bello Adoke, AGF and 

Minister of Justice, as he then was, 

insisted that it was not the duty of 

his office to dabble into partisan 

politics and that if anybody should 

go to court, it should be the political 

party, the owner of the trust in 

contention and not the Federal 

Government of Nigeria. The party 

didn’t want to go to court. It wanted 

the five Governors punished. The 

President didn’t buy into their idea. 

Those whose views prevailed 

eventually were those who argued 

that the five Governors could go if 

they wanted. They said it was God 

himself cleansing the party by 

removing the bad eggs within. 

They were sure that the defection 

of the Governors and some 

members of the National 

Assembly would not affect the 

party in any way in the 2015 

general elections. As we all know, 

the PDP paid dearly for this. The 

APC is about to suffer the same 

fate. Oshiomhole Is not helping 

matters with his rhetoric. The 

President is also aloof. He went to 

inspect the campaign 

headquarters for his re-election 

bid and then jetted off to London 

for a 10-day vacation. If I were in 

President Buhari’s shoes, I would 

not consider this a right time to go 

on vacation. He would have 

nobody to blame if by the time he 

returns, there have been more 

defections from his party and 


Brewing crisis within 

The situation is more worrisome 

moreso as the President, realizing 

the brewing crisis within 

the party, a few months ago, set up 

a Reconciliation Committee led 

by the party’s national leader, 

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. 

What happened to that Reconciliation 

Committee? Did it ever submit 

any report? And if it did, who 

and who did it reconcile? It is quite 

curious that in the face of the ongoing 

crisis within the APC, 

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the 

Chairman of the Presidential 

Reconciliation Committee has 

been silent. His silence is too 

pregnant with meaning. Is it a 

cautious admission of the failure 

of the Committee he led, or an 

admission that the crisis is not 

resolvable? 

In all of this, we are left with two 

things. The first is that our 

politicians are not principled at 

all. They can belong to the PDP in 

the morning, the APC by noon 

and within 24 hours, they could 

join a completely new party and 

advance strong arguments to 

justify their nomadism. The 

political parties are not built on 

any concrete principles or 

ideology either; they are vehicles 

for political survival and access 

to power by ambitious politicians. 

The second thing is that we, the people, 

are the ones who are shortchanged. 

By now, governance has 

more or less stopped within Nigeria’s 

ruling party; the politics of 2019 

has taken over. Bad politics results 

in bad economics and the crisis of 

growth and progress. With a National 

Assembly that has suspended 

key legislative work, and an Executive 

that is seeking a second term in 

office, and whose President is on 

holiday, while the party is on fire, 

international investors have also put 

Final Investment Decisions on 

hold, the market is in the grips of 

uncertainty, GDP ratings are stagnant, 

creeping stasis is imminent, 

and all of that, until Nigeria’s political 

drama is resolved. The only 

thing that is not on hold is the people’s 

frustration and the rising cost 

of being Nigerian.


Illegality of impeachment and 

defection by legislators 

By Femi Falana 

Introduction 

THE crisis of 

misgovernance in the 

country has been accentuated 

by the official impunity of 

members of the ruling class. 

Hence, the executive is 

justifying disobedience of 

court orders while legislators 

regularly suspend their 

colleagues and carry out 

impeachment of Governors 

outside the ambit of the 

Constitution. Even though it 

has been decided by the Court 

of Appeal that a legislative 

house lacks the power to 

suspend a legislator both 

chambers of the national 

assembly and state legislative 

houses have continued to 

suspend members who 

disagree with their colleagues. 

And contrary to several 

decisions wherein the 

Supreme Court has 

meticulously outlined the 

procedure for impeaching 

governors by not less than two 

thirds majority of the 

members, 8 out of 30 

members of the Benue State 

House of Assembly are said 

to have concluded plans to 

impeach Governor Samuel 

Ortom. Instead of calling the 

members of the APC involved 

in the charade President 

Buhari has washed off his 

hands like Pontius Pilate. 

Since the recent defection of 

a number of legislators from 

the the ruling party has 

generated some controversy 

it is pertinent to examine 

relevant provision of the 

Constitution and decided 

judicial authorities on the 

matter. 

Impunity of 

Legislators 

By virtue of sections 39 and 

40 of the Constitution which 

guarantee the fundamental 

rights of expression, 

conscience and opinions as 

well as freedom of association 

every citizens is entitled to 

hold political opinions and 

belong to political 

associations and change such 

opinions and association at 

any time. But such freedom is 

circumscribed in the case of 

elected legislators. 

Although cross carpeting by 

legislators was common in 

the first republic it has been 

prohibited by the 1999 

Constitution Thus, in 

Abegunde v Ondo State 

House of Assembly (2014) 

LPELR 23683 the appellant, 

a member of the House of 

Representatives had 

decamped from the Labour 

Party to Action Congress of 

Nigeria. In justifying his 

defection the appellant 

claimed that the Labour Party 

in Ondo State was 

factionalised. 

Since the division of the 

Labour party was limited to 

Ondo state, the supreme court 

held that it did not affect the 

party at the national level to 

justify the defection. It was 

therefore decided that the 

appellant had lost his seat in 

the House of Representatives. 

Relying on the case of Atiku 

Abubakar v Attorney General 

of the Federation (2007) 4 SC 

(part ii) 62 the supreme court 

held that it is only a division, 

Femi Falana, SAN. 

factionalisation or 

fragmentation that can make 

it impossible or 

impracticable for a party to 

function that can justify the 

defection of a legislator from 

one party to another. 

Otherwise the defector 

automatically loses his seat. 

From the clear and 

u n a m b i g u o u s 

pronouncements of the apex 

court, a division in a political 

party envisaged by the 

Constitution cannot be a 

figment of the imagination of 

prospective defectiors. The 

division must make it 

practically impossible for the 

party to function. In the instant 

case, the APC was not split to 

the extent that two parallel 

congresses were held leading 

to the emergence of two 

parallel sets of officers at the 

national, state and ward 

levels. A recent example of the 

factionalisation or division of 

a political party was recently 

witnessed when the PDP 

broke into two factions led by 

former governors Sheriff and 

Makarfi until the faction led 

by the latter was recognized 

by the Supreme Court. No 

doubt, the members of the R- 

APC were dissatisfied with the 

running of the affairs of the 

APC but they did not hold any 

parallel convention which 

would have produced elected 

officials of the aggrieved 

members. To that extent the 

defection of of the R-APC 

legislators from the APC to the 

PDP and ADC can be 

impugned under section 68 

(1) (g) of the Constitution. 

However, since the APC 

had allowed legislators to 

The planned removal 

of the Senate 

President, Dr. 

Bukola Saraki by the 

APC should be 

stopped as it cannot 

stand 

decamp from the PDP to join 

its fold in the recent past the 

ruling party lacks the moral 

and political right to 

condemn the defection of the 

R-APC legislators. But the 

crass opportunism of the APC 

cannot legitimize the 

prostitution of the political 

system. Having decamped 

from the APC which 

sponsored their elections the 

R-APC defectors ought to 

resign from the legislative 

houses and seek a fresh 

mandate from the electorate. 

In order to curb the dangerous 

trend some aggrieved 

members of the constituencies 

of the defectors ought to 

contest the legal validity of the 

refusal to resign from the 

affected legislative houses. 

Legal validity of 

defection by 

Governors 

However, the Constitution is 

silent on defection by the 

President and state governors 

from the political parties 

which sponsored their 

election. Hence, in Atiku 

Abubakar v Attorney General 

of the Federation (2007) 4 SC 

(Pt II) 62 the Supreme Court 

held that the defection of the 

appellant from PDP to the 

former Action Congress of 

Nigeria was not illegal and 

unconstitutional. On the basis 

of that judicial authority the 

decision of governors to dump 

the political parties which 

sponsored their elections was 

not challenged. I have 

therefore canvassed the 

argument that the defection 

of Governors Tambuwal, 

Ortom and Ahmed of Sokoto, 

Benue and Kwara states 

respectively from the APC to 

the PDP cannot be said to be 

illegal or unconstitutional. 

It would be recalled that five 

governors had decamped 

from PDP to APC in 2014. 

While relying on the decision 

of the Supreme Court in the 

case of Atiku Abubakar v Attorney-General 

of the Federation 

(supra) I expressed the 

view then that the defection of 

the governors could not be 

successfully challenged by the 

PDP. In the same vein, I have 

opined that the defection or 

return of APC governors to 

PDP cannot be questioned by 

the APC. Since my view was 

limited to decamping governors 

in 2014 it is the height of 

intellectual dishonesty on the 

part of Dr. Doyin Okupe to 

accuse me of inconsistency. 

Whatever the agents of mischief 

may want to believe I 

have been as constant as the 

northern star as far as the interpretation 

of the Constitution 

is concerned. 

Senate President 

can only be removed 

by two thirds 

majority of senators 

The planned removal of the 

Senate President, Dr. Bukola 

Saraki by the APC should be 

stopped as it cannot stand. The 

attention of APC legislators 

ought to be drawn to section 

52 of the Constitution which 

provides that the President and 

Deputy Senate President can 

only be removed by the 

resolution supported by the 

votes of not less two thirds 

majority of the entirety of the 

members of the Senate. Since 

the APC legislators cannot 

muster the required two thirds 

majority of the votes of the entire 

members, the plan to impeach 

Senator Saraki should be 

dropped forthwith. 

Again, the scenario playing out 

in the Senate is without 

precedent in our political history. 

When the accord of the National 

Party of Nigeria and Nigeria 

Peoples Party collapsed in the 

second republic, the Speaker of 

the House of Representatives, 

Honourable Ume Ezeoke of the 

NPP, a minority party in the 

House was not forced to resign. 

The election of Honourable 

Aminu Tambuwa as Speaker was 

made possible by the alliance of 

PDP and ACN legislators. And 

when he decamped from the 

PDP to APC Hon. Tambuwal was 

not asked to step down from the 

office of the Speaker. Therefore, 

the APC is estopped from demanding 

the resignation of Dr. 

Saraki as Senate President. 

LAGOS—THE General 

Overseer of the 

Redeemed Christian 

Church of God, Pastor 

Enoch Adejare Adeboye, 

yesterday assured of 

physical and spiritual 

healing at the 66th Annual 

Convention of the church 

which begins today and 

ends Sunday. 

The convention with the 

theme “Dominion” which 

marks the 66th anniversary 

of its foundation, is 

scheduled for the 

Redemption Camp along 

the Lagos-Ibadan 

expressway and is 

expected to be attended by 

delegates from over 198 

countries where the church 

has branches. 

:Vanguard :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnewsNEWS HOTLINES: 

RCCG ordains 11,000 deacons today 

By Sam Eyoboka & 

Olayinka Latona 

...as Adeboye counsels collegues to depend 

only on God's power 

GENERAL Overseer 

of RCCG, Pastor 

Enoch Adejare Adeboye 

has admonished ministers 

of the gospel to rely solely 

on the power of God for 

them to do exploits in their 

various callings. 

He gave the admonition 

yesterday during a special 

programme for ministers of 

the gospel and their 

families at the national 

headquarters of the church, 

Throne of Grace parish, 

Ebute-Meta, Lagos with 

the theme: 'Power to 

Dominate.' 

He further urged them 

not to seek alternative 

powers in their ministry but 

rather utilise Jesus name 

which he described as the 

only name that every other 

power surrenders to. 

In his words: "Power to 

dominate means ability to 

be in control of everything 

around you, be it physical, 

spiritual, social or 

politically. When a man has 

dominion we call him the 

king and the area where he 

had dominion is called 

domain or kingdom. 

"When you hear people 

saying satan has power but 

he does not have salvation, 

it is a lie because all power 

belongs to The Almighty 

God. Satan is cunning but 

Jesus Christ is powerful. 

"To dominate, you need to 

receive power from God not 

from the devil, devil has lost 

his power long time ago. If 

you are trusting herbalist, 

false prophets for power, 

they are just deceiving you, 

as all power belong to 

Jesus Christ and he gives 

it to anyone as he pleases" 

"You can dominate those 

witches and wizards or 

whatever they call 

themselves. I am not 

talking about theory, I know 

what I am talking about. 

For 17 years I was running 

away from my village 

because the witches there 

said they want to use me 

for breakfast, so I ran until 

I met Jesus Christ. So when 

I am going now, I announced 

that I am coming 

The 66th annual convention 

will begin today with 

the ordination of 11,250 

deacons and deaconesses 

to assist the leadership of 

the church. The figure of 

ordainees is over 3,000 

higher than the figure for 

last year, which was 8,230 

deacons and deaconesses. 

Speaking on the 

Convention at a 

thanksgiving service at the 

Ebute Metta, Lagos 

national headquarters, 

Pastor Adeboye told the 

worshippers that the theme 

of the Convention, “Dominion” 

should be a pointer to 

the fact that there will be 

intense praise of God, and 

diligent prayers, stressing 

that all persons who are not 

serious with God are 

advised to stay away. 

home so that the witches 

can run away, that is domination". 

Describing holliness as 

one of the major criteria of 

receiving power to 

dominate from God, the soft 

spoken man of God, 

warned the participants to 

shun every appearance of 

sin stressing that the name 

of Jesus can only work for 

them in their various ministries 

if they are connected 

with God. 

Enumerating other areas 

of life that man can 

dominate, pastor Adeboye 

said God has the power to 

promote a begger from the 

RCBC prepares ministers 

for the church ...holds ICAP 

By Sam Eyoboka 

AHEAD of the 66th 

annual convention, 

the Redeemed Christian 

Bible College, a manpower 

development unit of the 

church, held its annual 

International Conference 

on African Pentecostalism 

to address certain nagging 

issues affecting the growth 

of the church. 

The theme of the annual 

2-day event was: “African 

Pentecostalism: Probity and 

Acountability,” where local 

and international experts 

drawn from various 

Department of Religious 

Studies, of various 

universities including Dr. 

Corey Williams, Prof. Umar 

Habila Daden Danfulani 

who took the keynote 

address. 

The National Overseer of 

the Church, Pastor Joseph 

Obayemi said the essence 

of the conference is to 

advance the kingdom of 

God, to have indebt 

knowledge on evangelism 

because when you know 

the history of how things 

started, you can use that as 

a platform to develop the 

next level. 

“So we are in the end time 

now. And then the 

General Overseer of the 

church, Pastor Enoch 

Adeboye, is expected to call 

out the ever increasing 

number of ministers in 

batches, after official 

presention by RCCG National 

Overseer, Joseph 

Obayemi. After the opening 

prayers, senior ministers 

of the mission will file 

out to lay hands on the 

ordainees with the charge 

from the 76-year old 

General Overseer, to go out 

to expand the Kingdom of 

God on earth. 

RCCG, according to a 

source close to the church, 

now has presence in more 

than 198 countries of the 

world, with over 32,000 

parishes in Nigeria and 

over 730 branches in the 

UK and Ireland. 

dunghill to the palace. 

Citing his personal experience 

of poverty he said: 

"even though I have renovated 

my father's house, you 

will still notice that it belongs 

to a poor man. For the 

first 18 years of my life, I did 

not have a shoe not one but 

then I meet Christ and 

things began to change" 

"I visited a country and I 

paid the head of state a visit 

after two hours I said I have 

a crusade and people are 

waiting, he said let them 

wait, he said they have much 

time but he did not have and 

that he did not know when 

I will visit the country 

again". 

academicians and the 

ministry are gathering 

together to brainstorm on 

how we can move and fast 

forward the kingdom of 

God on earth here. And 

that’s the essence of the 

meeting,” Pastor Obayemi 

stated. 

Asked to explain why the 

focus was on probity and 

accountability, the National 

Overseer maintained that 

the church should be seen 

from the perspective of the 

founders of probity and 

accountability as Jesus 

Christ Himself 

demonstrated that at the 

story of the talent. 

“When He gave the 

talent, He didn’t leave the 

talent with them. He called 

the, for accountability and 

rewarded them accordingly. 

The nation of the world, 

especially our own country, 

need probity and 

accountability tone than 

ever before because the 

system from the lowest level 

to the top is so corrupted that it is 

high time that the church, when 

I mean the church I mean 

individual Christians, should 

stand for probity and 

accountability to change our 

nation and by extension change 

the whole world in righteousness 

and in holiness,” he stated.

Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2018— 51 

RALLY—From left: Chairman, All Progressives Congress (APC) Enugu State, Dr Ben Nwoye; APC 

Enugu State Governorship aspirant, Chief Ifeanyi Nwoga and his wife, Uche; Director General, Voice 

of Nigeria, Mr Osita Okechukwu and APC Enugu State Women Leader, Mrs Oby Nwafor, during APC 

Rally in Enugu, yesterday. Photo: NAN. 

SARAKI: APC, R-APC tango over plan 

to induce each senator with N50m 

Continues from Page 5 

principal officers. Once the 

Senate leadership is 

overthrown in a coup d’etat 

manner, the Senate will 

immediately consider the 

virement budget of INEC 

and also approve 

pending nominations in 

the Senate. 

“Part of the plot was to 

reach out to some PDP 

senators, especially 

those who have EFCC 

queries in order to give 

them a clean bill of 

health once they defect to 

the APC. They also 

agreed to woo some 

senators with the sum of 

N50 million. 

“We are by this 

statement alerting the 

nation and the 

international community 

of these barbaric and 

primitive plots aimed at 

deliberately overheating 

the system and 

undermine law and order 

by sheer use of brute 

force. 

“We are raising alarm 

because of the dangers 

these portend for 

democracy, especially in 

an already fragile 

political atmosphere that 

has played host to several 

fluctuations and 

militarization in the last 

two weeks. 

“Part of the plot is to 

seek out what they called 

a “friendly judge” where 

they could procure either 

a black-market injunction 

or Jankara Court order 

that would be used as 

alibi for the planned 

impeachment and takeover 

of the National 

Assembly. 

“We find all these plots 

as burdensome for a 

system that was already 

undergoing storm and 

stress, thus making us 

object of ridicule in the 

eyes of the world. It is 

benumbing to note that 

those who usually 

occupy the front seats 

when democracy is 

being discussed, are the 

architects of these 

orchestrated plots 

peculiar to military 

regimes. 

Calling on Osinbajo 

“Even when we 

understand that they could 

be carry-over effects of 

military regime, we 

never knew they have 

assumed this 

frightening dimension. 

“We are, therefore, 

calling on the Acting 

President, Professor 

Yemi Osibanjo, GCON, a 

Professor of Law and 

Senior Advocate of 

Nigeria, to please call 

these persons to order to 

avoid a needless 

breakdown of law and 

order. In any civilized 

democracy, rule of law 

and not rule of man is 

usually the common 

denominator to engage 

the democratic process. 

“This idea of 

wrongfully deploying 

the Nigeria Police Force 

against the people they 

were meant to protect, 

has made us mere object 

of ridicule in the eyes of 

the world. As a fledgling 

democracy with all the 

symptoms of fragility, it 

is a collective 

responsibility for us to 

jealously nurture it to 

enviable heights where 

law and order will dictate 

our democratic 

engagements. 

“We cannot continue to 

tolerate acts of omission 

and commission as the 

article of faith. 

Democracy thrives on 

decency, etiquette, 

discipline, rules and 

regulations, law and 

order which are the 

essential ingredients for 

building a representative 

government that caters 

for the wishes and 

aspirations of all. 

“To the members of the 

international community, 

we are asking that you 

withdraw the visas that 

were earlier issued to 

these undemocratic 

elements among us who 

have continued to 

unleash mayhem on 

statutory authorities for 

less than altruistic 

motives. 

“We are also appealing 

that the international 

community should stop 

giving visas to these 

categories of persons 

who often run away to 

seek refuge once they 

finished executing their 

dastardly, ungodly and 

indecent acts. 

“We are already 

compiling the names of 

those undemocratic 

persons for onward 

transmission to all 

embassies and foreign 

missions to either 

withdraw their visas or 

refuse them fresh visas. 

“The provisions of the 

1999 Constitution of 

Nigeria (as amended) 

stipulates in no 

ambiguous terms 

procedure to follow in 

electing a Senate 

President and removal of 

same. All the armtwisting 

methods and 

trying to be clever-byhalf 

approach will only 

further compound an 

already bad situation. 

The plot and its 

execution is an ill-wind 

that will blow no one any 

good. 

“While the APC on the 

one hand condemns the 

PDP and the defectors as 

inconsequential 

politicians, it is curious 

on the other hand to 

note that the APC has 

devoted consolidated 

interest in ensuring that 

it gets some PDP 

stalwarts into its fold. 

“This double-faced 

conduct is suggestive of 

APC’s identity crisis, 

pretentiousness and 

sanctimoniousness. At 

the risk of sounding 

superfluous, APC could 

be likened to the 

Chichidodo bird that 

feeds on maggots but 

hates the smell of faeces; 

such curious irony that 

typifies the true 

reflection of a party in 

search of its true identity. 

“While it celebrates her 

members, no matter how 

questionable their 

characters, it demonizes 

other members of 

political parties who are 

not in agreement with its 

present desperate reelection 

peregrination. 

“It is not an accident of 

history that each time 

the President travels for 

medical attention, 

something dramatic often 

takes place. And this 

present trip, we believe, 

will unfurl already 

plotted schemes aimed 

at removing Senate 

President, Bukola 

Saraki, Benue State 

governor, Samuel Ortom 

and other perceived 

persons opposed to the 

re-election of Mr. 

President.” 

APC restates 

desire to oust 

Saraki 

Meanwhile, the All 


APC, has restated its 

desire to remove the 

Senate President, Bukola 

Saraki, from office, but 

was quick to state that 

rather than expending 

millions of Naira of public 

funds on the project, it 

would deploy its 

numerical strength in the 

Senate to get him out of 

office. 

The party was 

responding to media 

inquiries about the 

allegations from its 

splinter group, Reformed 

APC, which accused it of 

deploying public funds 

on a clearly partisan 

venture. 

“It is the cry of a 

drowning man. Kassim 

Afegbua and his cohorts 

are trying to elicit 

sentiments and to make 

futile attempts at denting 

the integrity of the APCled 

government,” Yekini 

Nabena, acting Publicity 

Secretary of the APC said. 

Nabena said the reason 

most APC members are 

defecting was the fact 


Buhari’s administration 

was not sharing money, 

which is the PDP’s 

philosophy. 

He added: “This 

administration cannot 

inject tax-payers’ money 

into impeaching the 

President of the Senate or 

Speaker of the House of 

Representatives. This is a 

serious government and 

not a dead party called the 

PDP. 

“What PDP is doing is 

to whip up sentiments 

before their final burial in 

2019. National Assembly 

members have 

procedures on how a 

Speaker or President of 

the Senate can be 

impeached. And we 

believe that the APC 

lawmakers know their 

rules and they will apply 

it accordingly. 

“The hierarchy of the 

APC has no business 

spending money to 

impeach these people 

because APC still 

commands the majority in 

both Houses. Since Saraki 

has gone back to where he 

came from, he cannot 

preside over majority 

APC lawmakers. 

Therefore, we will use our 

numerical strength to 

remove him following the 

rule of law. 

“So, let the PDP 

propaganda machine 

continue to raise false 

alarm. We will remain 

focused and ensure that 

President Buhari is not 

distracted by charlatans. 

Very soon, we shall 

separate the men from the 

boys.” 

Hold FG 

responsible, if.... 

— PDP 

Reacting to the 

development, People 


asked Nigerians and the 

international community 

to hold the federal 

government responsible 

should the nation’s 

democracy fall under any 

harm in the coming days. 

The party also warned 

that any attempt to forcibly 

take over control of the 

National Assembly was a 

direct recipe for crisis and 

anarchy, adding that such 

a move will be directly 

resisted by Nigerians. 

PDP reacts 

In a statement issued 

yesterday by the party’s 

spokesman, Kola 

Ologbondiyan, the PDP 

accused the ruling party 

of working hand-ingloves 

with security 

agencies to illegally 

change the leadership of 

the National Assembly. 

The statement read: 

“Nigerians would recall 

that we alerted the nation 

that the purported 

overseas vacation by 


Buhari was to enable his 

cabal overrun the 

National Assembly in a 

manner reminiscent of the 

siege at the Benue State 

House of Assembly, so as 

to sack the current elected 

Senate leadership and 

install their stooges. 

“When this is done, the 

Buhari Presidency will in 

its characteristic response, 

claim that ‘Mr. President 

is unaware. 

“The PDP cautions, in 

the strongest possible 

terms, that Nigeria as a 

nation will never allow 

such direct assault to the 

highest symbol of our 

integrity as a democratic 

state. 

“The laws of our nation 

regarding the sanctity 

and sovereignty of our 

legislature are clear and 

our citizens will never 

allow any person or group 

of persons, no matter the 

circumstances, 

undermine the 

constitutional integrity of 

the legislature as 

representatives of the 

people. 

“Any attempt to tempt 

the will of the people in 

this direction is a clear 

recipe for very serious 

crisis. 

“The laid down rules for 

reconvening the Senate 

whenever it is on recess, 

which must be followed 

when it becomes 

compelling to reopen the 

senate on a date order 

than the earlier adjourned 

date, are clear and direct. 

“In such a circumstance, 

Order 12(2) of the Senate 

Standing Rule (2015) 

clearly vests such powers 

and functions on the 

Senate President, who 

shall give notice of such 

new date and time. 

“Anything outside the 

provision of the law is a 

direct coup not only 

against the National 

Assembly but also on our 

entire democratic system. 

It is a clear recipe for 

anarchy of monumental 

proportion capable of disarticulating 

our nation.”

C 

M 

Y 

K 


Venezuelan President survives 

assassination attempt 

V ENEZUELAN 

President Nicolas 

Maduro survived an 

apparent assassination 

attempt Saturday after 

several drones armed with 

explosives flew toward him 

during a speech at a military 

parade. 

Live footage of the event 

showed him suddenly 

looking up startled midspeech, 

while beside him 

his wife, Cilia Flores, winces 

after a loud bang. 

Dozens of soldiers are 

also seen scattering during 

the event to commemorate 

the 81st anniversary of the 

Venezuelan national guard 

in the capital of Caracas. 

Seven members of the 

national guard were hurt 

during the attack, which the 

president blamed on farright 

elements and 

Colombia’s outgoing 

president, Juan Manuel 

Santos. 

A Colombian presidential 

source said Maduro’s accusations 

were “baseless.” 

“I’m alive and victorious,” 

Maduro said in a national 

television address hours 

after what he described as 

an assassination attempt. 

The president added that 

there were two explosions, 

seconds apart, and that he 

initially thought they were 

fireworks as part of the military 

parade. 

Venezuela’s Minister of 

Communication, Jorge 

Rodriguez, said 

preliminary information 

showed the explosions 

came from several “dronetype 

flying devices” containing 

explosive charges 

that detonated in the vicinity 

of the presidential stage 

and in some areas of the parade. 

A photo posted on Twitter 

by Freddy Nanez, head of 

the Venezuelan state run 

news channel VTV, shows 

bodyguards shielding 

Maduro following the 

explosions. 

33 reported dead in Congo Ebola outbreak 

THE Ebola virus 

outbreak in the 

Democratic Republic of 

Congo has killed 33 people, 

the World Health 

Organization said Sunday. 

An additional 43 

suspected cases of Ebola 

were reported, including 13 

confirmed by lab testing, 

according to WHO. 

The outbreak is spreading 

through five health zones in 

North Kivu province and 

one health zone in Ituri 

province, which poses 

geographic and political 

challenges, the WHO said. 

North Kivu borders Rwanda 

and Uganda and trade 

activity fuels heavy 

movement across the 

borders. North Kivu also 

hosts over 1 million 

displaced people and 

fighting between 

government forces and 

armed militant groups 

makes containing the highly 

infectious virus a challenge. 

“We’re responding to an 

outbreak of this high-threat 

pathogen, with one of the 

highest mortality rates of any 

known disease, but in the 

context of a war zone,” Peter 

Salama, Head of 

Emergencies at WHO said. 

Health officials 

announced the outbreak 

Wednesday, about a week 

after the government of 

Congo declared another 

Ebola outbreak in Equateur 

province had been 

contained. That outbreak 

was about 2,500 km (1,553 

miles) from the current 

outbreak. 

There are 33 additional 

“suspected cases” in the 

North Kivu outbreak that are 

pending lab test results to 

“confirm or exclude Ebola 

virus disease,” according to 

WHO. 

Three healthcare workers 

have been affected, 

including two who died, the 

WHO said. “The Ministry 

of Health, WHO, and 

partners are working to 

establish the full extent of this 

outbreak”, the WHO 

statement read. 

GAZA: Israel says truce focuses on easing 

closure in return for calm 

ISRAEL set out limited 

goals for Gaza truce 

talks on Sunday, saying the 

focus was on a proposal to 

ease its blockade of the 

Islamist Hamas-controlled 

territory in return for the 

Palestinians calming their 

side of the frontier. 

The Israeli statement 

came hours before Prime 

Minister Benjamin 

Netanyahu convened his 

security cabinet to discuss, 

and possibly approve 

U.N.- and Egyptianbrokered 

ideas for 

preventing another 

threatened Gaza war. 

A very brief statement 

issued after the meeting 

ended revealed little. It 

said that Israel’s military 

chief had briefed the 

cabinet about the situation 

in the Gaza Strip and that 

the army was “prepared for 

any scenario.” 

The United Nations and 

Egypt have not publicly 

detailed their proposals. 

They have spoken 

generally of a need to 

improve humanitarian 

conditions in Gaza, stem 

cross-border hostilities and 

reconcile Hamas - which 

refuses formal 

peacemaking with Israel - 

to its Western-backed 

Palestinian rivals. 

Gaza, under years of 

grinding Israeli and 

Egyptian sanctions aimed 

at isolating Hamas, has 

seen a surge in tensions 

since Palestinians 

launched weekly border 

protests on March 30, 

drawing Israeli army fire 

that has killed at least 157 

people. 

There have also been 

shelling exchanges 

between Hamas-led 

militants and Israel in 

which around 10 

Palestinian gunmen and 

four civilians have died, 

Gaza sniper attacks that 

killed an Israeli soldier and 

wounded another, and 

wide-scale brushfires set in 

Israel by incendiary kites 

and helium balloons from 

Gaza. 

South Sudan govt, rebels sign 

peace deal 

SOUTH 

Sudan’s 

government has 

reached a power-sharing 

agreement with the 

country’s main rebel 

group. 

President Salva Kiir and 

rebel leader Riek Machar 

signed the deal in 

neighbouring Sudan. 

The deal, which will see 

Mr Machar return to 

power as one of five vicepresidents, 

is aimed at 

ending a five-year civil war 

which has killed tens of 

thousands and displaced 

millions. 

Previous attempts to find 

a peaceful solution have 

failed. 

“In initials, an 

agreement on outstanding 

issues has been signed 

and this agreement 

expresses the commitment 

of all parties to a 

ceasefire,” said Sudanese 

Foreign Minister Al- 

Dirdiri Mohamed, who 

helped to broker the deal. 

Mr Kiir said on Friday 

he was more confident 

that the current deal would 

work because it had not 

been “forced on us” unlike 

previously. 

“This agreement will not 

collapse and I am sure 

that it will not collapse 

because the people of 

South Sudan have now 

agreed that they must 

make peace among 

themselves,” he said. 

*Aguero 

Modric to 

return today 

•We won't sell him 

With Raphael Var 

ane and Mateo 

Kovacic back at their 

first Real Madridtraining 

session yesterday, 

only Luka Modric is left 

from the first team to rejoin 

those working at 

Valdebebas. 

The world champion 

and the Croatian, together 

with Casemiro and 

Marcelo, worked with the 

physical trainer Javier 

Mallo and the new assistant 

coach Albert Celades 

on pitch three. 

After the initial warmup, 

the four players performed 

touch, mobility 

and speed exercises with 

the ball. 

Modric should be reinstated 

today, and although 

there are many 

rumours about his possible 

exit to Italian football, 

the midfielder hasn’t 

made any statements 

about it. 

Meanwhile, Madrid 

coach, Julien Lopetugui 

has said the club would 

not sell Modric. 

City win Community Shield 

Manchester United 

are preparing to 

make a bid for Harry 

Maguire before the Premier 

League transfer window 

closes on Thursday, 

according to Sky sources. 

The Leicester and England 

defender is believed 

to be Jose Mourinho’s top 

target as he looks to put 

the finishing touches to 

his side ahead of the new 

season. 

United are understood 

to be aware that they will 

have to pay a new worldrecord 

fee for a defender 

.Ageuro joins 200 club 

Sergio 

Aguero 

reached another 

milestone as Manchester 

City warmed up for 

their Premier League title 

defence with a convincing 

2-0 win over 

Chelsea in the Community 

Shield at Wembley. 

City’s all-time top scorer 

struck 13 minutes into 

the traditional curtainraiser 

to reach 200 goals 

for the club and added 

another midway through 

the second half (58) to 

secure silverware after a 

mismatch of a contest. 

Pep Guardiola had spoken 

of his enduring motivation 

despite last season’s 

record-breaking 

campaign, and his champions 

bristled with energy 

even without several 

key men to leave Maurizio 

Sarri with plenty to 

ponder ahead of next 

weekend’s top-flight 

kick-off. 

Riyad Mahrez, making 

his competitive City debut 

in the sunshine, sent 

a free-kick into the Chelsea 

wall and then threaded 

through a clever ball 

that Aguero failed to catch 

cleanly. But when Phil 

Foden was allowed to 

drive at goal, Aguero this 

time met his lay-off with 

a firm left boot. 

Man Utd prepare Maguire bid 

Stallions to face Niger 

Football 

Saturday 

By Jacob Ajom 

The national Rugby 

team, The Stallions 

will be facing their 

Nigerien counterparts in 

an international friendly 

sanctioned by Rugby 

Afrique. 

According to the President 

of the Nigeria Rugby 

Over 200 kids dazzle at 

Ibadan U-12 Volleyball clinic 

It was a fanfare at the 

Lekan Salami, Ibadan 

volleyball courts last Saturday 

as over 200 kids 

drawn from the Oyo state 

capital and its environs 

participated in the maiden 

edition of the Southwest 

catch them young 

Under-12 Volleyball programme. 

The organizers of the 

program volleyball and 

legends from the United 

states and England 

were overwhelmed with 

the turn out and the 

standard displayed by the 

kids at the one day event. 

Mikassabranded balls 

were freely distributed to 

the coaches who participated 

as well as the Oyostate 

Volleyball Association.. 

At the gala night later 

in the day, ex-players, 

coaches as well as sports 

journalists and administrators 

were duly rewarded 

for their contribution 

to the development of the 

game. Those rewarded 

were Tony Oghuma, Osaretin 

Emuze, Professor- 

Tunde Morakinyo, Eddy 

Aderinokun, Edet Bluejack, 

Commodore J. 

Ogunseitan and Kehinde 

Lamidi. Coaches Suraju 

Onatuga, Okolo Patrick, 

Richardson Odele and 

others were given posthumous 

awards. 

The chairman of the 

Southwest volleyball legends, 

Wasiu Ojuolape 

expressed his satisfaction 

at the turn out and promised 

that it will be an annual 

event. Other legends 

present at the 

award night were Lola 

Aina, Anthonia Akpama- 

Oyedele, Tunde Omisore 

and Shakirat Afolabi. 

Klopp hints at 

more signings 

Jurgen Klopp has 

hinted Liverpool’s 

transfer window business 

may not be over as Deadline 

Day approaches. 

“We will see what happens,” 

Klopp replied on 

the subject of any potential 

last minute deals. 

if they want to take the 

25-year-old from the King 

Power Stadium. 

*Maguire 

Federation 

Kelechukwu Mbagwu 

the friendly was as a result 

of the recent readmission 

of Nigeria into 

the international rugby 

family by the continental 

body, Rugby Afrique. The 

country was suspended 

as a result of the leadership 

crisis that rocked the 

federation prior to the 

elections that brought 

about the current board. 

“One of the major conditions 

for readmission 

was to have an acceptable 

constitution which would 

be approved by Rugby 

Afrique. And I am happy 

to inform you that the suspension 

has been lifted 

and we are back to the 

fold,” he said. 

After the readmission, 

the President said the 

next step was where to 

place Nigeria, in terms of 

ranking. “This is what we 

have set out to achieve. 

First we are going to play 

a friendly against Niger 

Republic on August 11, 

take part in a regional 

rugby tournament in Cote 

d’Ivoire and another 

friendly against Ghana. 

After we take part in all 

these engagements, 

Rugby Afrique would 

then rank us. I believe we 

should place among the 

best three in the continent,” 

Mbagu said. 

He informed journalists 

that the federation was 

witnessing an astronomical 

growth in the sport as 

there were leagues in 

North West and North 

Central, in the South 

South and the South East 

regions and the Lagos 

Rugby League.

France 2018 World Cup 

Falconets eye 

three points 

against Germany 

Nigeria open their 

FIFA Women’s U- 

20 World Cup campaign 

against Germany today 

in France, with coach 

Chris Danjuma charging 

the Falconets to fight to 

scoop all three points at 

stake. 

“It is a good thing we 

are meeting Germany in 

our first match. If you 

want to be a champion, 

you have to overcome 

strong forces on the way. 

We are starting the tournament 

knowing that 

there is no easy route to 

the top, and that we have 

to give our best in every 

minute of the competition,” 

said Danjuma. 

Effervescent forward 

Gift Monday must play 

carefully in order to avoid 

a yellow card that could 

knock her out of Thursday’s 

clash with Haiti, 

having been cautioned in 

the Nigeria team’s final 

qualifying match against 

South Africa in Benin 

City early in the year. 

However, the Falconets 

are loaded to the hilt with 

proven performers. Captain 

Oluwakemi Famuditi 

and Glory Ogbonna 

would be expected to 

keep things tight at the 

back, while Christy 

Stories by Ben Efe 

AFTER five days of 

events Kenya, 

topped the medals table 

of the 21st African Athletics 

Championships, but it 

was a close call as South 

Africa and Nigeria put up 

a good fight till the last 

minute. 

Kenya who came with 

a strong team and loads 

of complaints won a total 

of 11 gold, six silver and 

two bronze medals. South 

Ucheibe and Peace Efih 

would be saddled with 

the responsibility of pushing 

the ball upfront for 

the experienced and efficient 

Rasheedat Ajibade 

and the starry –eyed but 

clinical Anam Imo. 

Nigeria take on Haiti at 

the same venue on Thursday, 

before closing the 

group D attrition with 

China at the Stade de 

Clos Gastel in Dinan/Lehon 

on Monday next 

week. 

Ndidi raring to go against Man Utd 

Leicester City’s mid 

fielder, Wilfred Ndidi 

has said that the 2-1 

victory over Lille has 

boosted the t team’s confidence 

ahead of their 

Premier League opener 

against Manchester United. 

Super Eagles striker 

Kelechi Iheanacho ended 

pre-season with four 

goals in three games after 

netting a brace against 

the Ligue 1 opponents. 

‘’Honestly, it was very 

good because in the first 

minute of the game we 

tried to manage the game 

but it was very difficult,’’ 

Ndidi told Leicester City 

TV. 

‘’These games will give 

Asaba 2018 AAC: Kenya finish 

ahead of S/Africa, Nigeria 

Africa won nine gold 13 

silver and eight bronze 

medals. Nigeria settled 

for third place with nine 

gold, five silver and five 

bronze medals. 

Nigeria’s Onome Nathaniel 

Glory won the women 

400m hurdles with a 

time of 55.53 seconds, 

Grace Abata won the 

women triple jump gold, 

the women 4x400m completed 

the day for Nigeria 

after putting on a good 

display to win the gold 

much to the delight of the 

cheering crowd. 

In the 200m women 

Ivorian Marie Josee Ta 

Lou completed her sprint 

double returning 22.50 

seconds. Nigeria Praise 

Idamadudu was 8th with 

23.79seconds. 

“Our team did quite 

well despite all the odds 

we faced. We didn’t have 

the best of preparations 

and we had to make do 

with the little resources 

we had,” said AFN president 

Ibrahim Gusau. 

South Africa’s rise in athletics no magic, 

says Semenya 

*Semenya 

Photo: Henry Unini 

*Ndidi 

After completing her 

400m and 800m 

double South Africa’s 

Caster Semenya attributed 

her country’s rise in 

world athletics to hunger 

by the athletes for success 

and quality coaching. 

Semenya, who is the 

world and Olympic 

champion posted 1.56.06 

to add the women 800m 

gold to the 400m she won 

on Thursday. She stated 

that she was now looking 

forward to the next line 

of competitions for the 

rest of the season before 

taking a long holiday. 

Responding to questions 

on why there is a 

Oluwakemi Famuditi 

in action for Nigeria 

renewed surge in South 

African athletics, Semenya 

said: “There is no secret 

in South Africa’s success 

in athletics. At the 

coaching level we have 

learnt a lot and we athletes 

are hungry, we want 

to achieve what other 

countries have achieved. 

“It is hard work, we 

have put in together. As 

athletes, we motivate ourselves, 

when you look at 

van Niekerk, myself, Akine 

Simbine and others, 

the kids believe that if we 

can do it they also can. 

As long as we can stay 

united we are going to do 

more things.” 

us the confidence to go to 

the next one so we try to 

manage that kind of situation 

in the first minute 

and we’ll try to make it 

happen in the next game. 

‘’So, the game as a 

whole was very, very 

challenging and it was a 

good game for us going 

into the next one. 

‘’That’s the idea of the 

pre-season games. Not 

just the confidence, match 

fitness and trying to play 

together. ‘’It was good because 

of the international 

players we didn’t get 

to play too much but the 

coach tried to manage the 

players, giving everyone 

minutes and I feel like we 

are getting there,’’ Ndidi 

cadded. 

Delta State sports 

commission chairman, 

Tonobok Okowa 

maintained that but for 

the traveling chaos that 

rocked the Asaba 2018 

African Athletics Championships 

arrivals, things 

went well. Okowa, who 

was speaking just before 

the closing ceremony 

said the arrivals in Lagos 

could have been better 

managed, since first impressions 

makes the difference, 

he was of the 


Nwanagah 

Kelechi 

Photo: 

Henry Unini 

Kalu to join Bordeaux 

French Ligue 1 outfit 

Bordeaux have announced 

that they have 

reached an agreement 

with KAA Gent over the 

transfer of Samuel Kalu, 

subject to the signing of 

all administrative documents. 

The 20-year-old Nigerian 

winger has been 

signed as replacement for 

ex-Brazil U20 star Malcom 

who joined Barcelona 

this summer. 

Kalu and his representatives 

were pictured at the 

Brussels Airport on Saturday 

ahead of their trip 

to France for the final 

round of negotiations. 

Gov Okowa, Falilat, 

Okagbare, Ikhuoria 

shine at NOC Awards 

Delta State Governor, 

Dr Arthur Ifeanyi 

Okowa, Sir Awoture 

Eleyae, Chief Falilat 

Ogunkoya-Omotayo, 

Blessing Okagbare-Igoteguonor, 

Sir Isaac Ikhuoria 

were among the Stars 

honoured by the Nigeria 

*Okagbare 

Flight delays a stain on our 

good arrangements — Okowa 

view that the visiting delegates 

have had a good 

time at Asaba 2018. 

“We have done quite 

well with the organization. 

It is up to standard,” 

said Okowa. “I and the 

LOC have been to Birmingham, 

Gold Coast to 

see how it is done and we 

put that experience into 

practice here. I will give 

it 80 percent. “There are 

few things we could have 

done better. We would 

have been able to receive 

them better. 

“Even at that, it should 

be noted that it wasn’t our 

responsibility to arrange 

travel for delegations to 

the venue. We all acknowledged 

that the arrivals 

in Lagos should 

have been better managed. 

It is not every of the 

countries that came for the 

DRM. Now that they are 

going back home things 

will be much better.” 

Speaking on the maintenance 

of the Stephen 

Keshi Stadium he said: 

“The facilities would be 

well maintained. We have 

a contract with professional 

concern to manage 

it. We will ensure that the 

grass remains lush 

green.” 

Olympic Committee at 

the weekend with the 

NOC Merit Award at the 

Events Centre, Asaba. 

It was a night of glamour 

laced with comedy, 

musical entertainment 

coupled with high profile 

dignitaries from all 

over the world who appreciated 

the winners for 

their outstanding performances 

that raised Nigeria’s 

flag to flutter at 

World meets. Other winners 

of the glorious night 

included sir Adetokunbo 

Ademola(post humous), 

Late Babayo Shehu, Ruth 

Ogbeifo-Balogun, Mariam 

Usman, Lucy Ejike, 

Adeoye Ajibola(late), and 

Monday Emoghavwe. 

And a glittering array of 

stars from the sports galaxy 

in Africa descended 

on the Palatial Events 

Centre, Asaba to honour 

those who the cap fits for 

meritorious services to 

humanity. 

They included former 

CAF President Issa Hayatou, 

Sports Minister 

Barrister Solomon Dalung 

who was represented 

by Permanent Secretary, 

Adesola Olusade, 

NOC President Engr 

Habu Gumel(host), CAA 

Officials attending the 

Africa Athletics fiesta in 

Asaba, NFF President 

Melvin Pinnick Amaju 

and the executive Governor 

of Delta State with his 

retinue of officials among 

others. 

NOC President Engr 

Gumel emphasized that 

the NOC Merit Award 

was living up to its name 

of MERIT as all the winners 

merited deserving 

accolades for their exemplary 

leadership in their 

fields of endeavor. 

Delta State Governor Dr 

Okowa who received 

award for good governance 

and turning Delta 

State to a Mecca of Sports 

praised the NOC for 

their transparency that 

included recognition to 

Paralympic athletes. He 

said that Delta was still 

in the vanguard of Sports 

development and giving 

youths more opportunity 

to excel in sports. 

With all federation Presidents 

present at the 

Awards, NOC Scribe 

Hon Tunde Popoola could 

not but describe it as the 

best Awards “I’ve seen in 

recent times”.


Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2018---55

Vanguard, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2018 

TODAY’S PUZZLE 

Sudoku 

FRIDAY’S ANSWER 

TODAY’S CROSSWORD 

QUICK CROSSWORD 

FRIDAY’S SOLUTION 

Across 

1 Weepy (7) 

5 Inexpensive (5) 

8 Biblical measure (5) 

9 Conundrums (7) 

10 Eight-sided figure (7) 

11 Strange and disturbing (5) 

12 Bloom, blossom (6) 

14 Cosmetics (4-2) 

18 Wait in line (5) 

20 Exterior (7) 

22 Accumulated (7) 

23 Balm, ointment (5) 

24 Curt, abrupt (50 

25 Meander (anag) (7) 

Down 

1 Rebuke (4,3) 

2 Head of a community of 

monks (5) 

3 Weariness (7) 

4 Upper part of the 

windpipe (6) 

5 Scrounge (5) 

6 Make bigger (7) 

7 Ski slope (5) 

13 Out-of-doors (4-3) 

15 Skilled worker (7) 

16 Make believe (7) 

17 Chillier (6) 

18 Two pints (5) 

19 Follow as a consequence 

(5) 

21 Muslim religion (5) 

How to Play Sudoku 

Place a number (1-9) in each blank cell. (No line can have two 

of the same number). 

Each row (nine lines from left to right), column, (also nine lines 

from top to bottom) and 3 X 3 block within a bold block (nine 

blocks) contains number from 1 through 9. This means that no 

number can appear twice in any block, column or row. 

No mathematics is involved – no adding, subtraction, division or 

multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination. 

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06082018 - ALLEGED PLOT TO REMOVE SARAKI AS SENATE PRESIDENT:APC, R-APC tango over plan to induce each senator with N50m

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